BBC investigated by US broadcast regulator over Trump speech edit

The BBC is being investigated by the broadcast regulator in the US over its editing of a speech by US President Donald Trump featured in an episode of Panorama.

Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), wrote to executives at the BBC on Wednesday, the PA news agency understands.

Mr Carr also wrote to two US broadcasters, PBS and NPR, to find out whether the programme was aired in the US and had broken FCC regulations, the Telegraph reported.

The corporation apologised for the speech edit, which it said gave the “mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action” on the day of the US Capitol attack on January 6 2021.

The broadcaster said the splicing of the speech was an “error of judgment” but refused to pay financial compensation, after the US president’s lawyers threatened to sue for one billion dollars in damages unless a retraction and apology were published.

In an episode broadcast in June 2022, Newsnight reportedly played an edit of his speech which was similar to the one used in the Panorama programme.

Mr Carr’s letter reportedly outlined how the two segments of speech that had been spliced together had been spoken almost an hour apart.

He said: “In doing so, the BBC programme depicts President Trump voicing a sentence that, in fact, he never uttered. That would appear to meet the very definition of publishing a materially false and damaging statement.”

He also wrote: “As you may know, broadcasters regulated by the FCC have a legal obligation to operate in the public interest. Those public interest requirements include prohibitions on news distortion and broadcast hoax.”

In January, Mr Carr asked the FCC Enforcement Bureau to open an investigation of PBS and NPR and said that “Congress is actively considering whether to stop requiring taxpayers to subsidise NPR and PBS programming”.

In May, Mr Trump signed an executive order aiming to slash public subsidies to the broadcasters over “bias” in their reporting.

The chairman of the BBC, Samir Shah, will face questions from MPs next week.

Leaked report

The edit was brought to public attention after a leaked report from former editorial standards advisor Michael Prescott, which raised concerns about the Panorama programme Trump: A Second Chance?.

The programme was broadcast a week before the US election in November 2024.

The committee session on November 24 will also hear from former senior Conservative adviser Sir Robbie Gibb, who has faced calls for his removal from the BBC’s board.

Two of the BBC’s most senior executives, director-general Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness, have quit.

Mr Trump has a history of suing news organisations in the US and is currently engaged in legal action with the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We have had no further contact from President Trump’s lawyers at this point. Our position remains the same.”