Donald Trump's official spokesperson has described the BBC as "100% fake news" and a "propaganda machine" in a forthright interview. These remarks follow claims of bias at the network.
White House Official Condemns BBC Reporting
Karoline Leavitt, a high-ranking representative in the Trump administration, stated that viewing BBC news reports during visits to the UK "ruins" her day. She claimed that the public are "compelled to foot the bill for a leftist propaganda machine."
Controversy Over Edited Address
The spokesperson's comments emerged after MPs said the broadcaster had "serious questions to answer" regarding how a speech by the US president was edited in a BBC Panorama program.
A document leaked to a newspaper indicated that an installment of the news programme "thoroughly deceived" viewers by combining two segments of the oration together.
The broadcast depicted the president saying he would walk with his supporters to the Capitol prior to the disturbances on January 6th, urging them to "struggle intensely". However, it omitted a section of the speech where he advised the crowd "to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard".
“This purposefully dishonest, selectively edited clip by the BBC is further evidence that they are total, 100% fake news that should no longer be worth the time on the television screens of the great people of the United Kingdom.”
Leavitt continued: "Whenever I journey to the United Kingdom with President Trump and am obliged to watch the BBC in our hotel rooms, it mars my day listening to their overt propaganda and lies about the president of the United States and all that he’s doing to make America better and the world a safer place."
Disclosed Memo Highlights Production Issues
The newspaper reported its reporting was based on a note authored by a former adviser to the BBC's content standards board. The adviser left his role recently and has not spoken on the file, understood to have been leaked by a insider.
A passage released read: ""Editing the footage as Panorama broadcast it was utterly deceptive. The absence of a direct call for supporters to march and battle at Capitol Hill partly explained why no federal incitement charges were filed."
Claims of Systemic Problems
The report reportedly added that the former adviser had expressed concerns about how BBC Arabic covered the war in Gaza.
The newspaper said the adviser asserted there were "institutional issues", which had not been resolved by senior management. He reportedly cited "clear disparities" between the reporting of the war on BBC Arabic and on the main BBC website.
One issue highlighted was the frequent use of commentators who were prejudiced against Jewish people or pro-Hamas.
Censure of Transgender Topics Coverage
The lengthy dossier is also reported to have faulted the BBC's coverage of transgender issues, saying the network had been "captured by a small group of [staff] promoting the Stonewall view" of gender identity issues and that its LGBT unit would "decline to cover any stories raising difficult questions".
It is reported to have claimed that stories posing challenging questions about trans issues were downplayed, with a "steady stream of one-sided stories promoting the trans experience without adequate fairness or impartiality".
BBC Response
In response, the BBC said: "While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully."
"The former adviser is a former adviser to a board committee where differing views and opinions of our coverage are routinely discussed and debated.|He previously advised a panel where varied perspectives on our reporting are regularly examined and contested."
