Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said “heads should roll” at the BBC, following reports that a Panorama documentary misled viewers by editing a speech by US President Donald Trump.
The Telegraph said it had seen an internal memo suggesting the programme edited two parts of Trump’s speech together so he appeared to explicitly encourage the Capitol Hill riots of January 2021.
Badenoch told GB News the edits were “absolutely shocking”, adding that director general Tim Davie should be “identifying who put out misinformation, and sacking them”.
A BBC spokesperson said: “While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully.”
The one-hour programme, Trump: A Second Chance?, was broadcast last year and was made for the BBC by independent production company October Films Ltd, which has also been approached for comment.
In his speech in Washington DC on 6 January 2021, Trump said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
However, in Panorama’s edit, he was shown saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
The two sections of the speech that were edited together were more than 50 minutes apart.
The “fight like hell” comment was taken from a section where President Trump discussed how “corrupt” US elections were. In total, he used the words “fight” or “fighting” 20 times in the speech.
After showing the president speaking, the programme played footage of flag-waving men marching on the Capitol, the Telegraph said.
According to the leaked memo, this “created the impression President Trump’s supporters had taken up his ‘call to arms'”. But that footage was in fact shot before the president had started speaking.
Credit: bbc.com
