The BBC has announced that it will begin defending against a defamation lawsuit threatened by President Donald Trump that is expected to be filed this week.
On Monday, BBC board chairman Sameer Shah said the British broadcaster was prepared to fight any complaints lodged by the president.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
“Let me be clear: our position has not changed. There is no basis for a defamation action and we are determined to fight it,” Shah said in a letter to BBC staff.
The letter said the lawsuit will move forward in the coming days following President Trump’s announcement on Friday.
“We’ll probably file a lawsuit within the next week for between $1 billion and $5 billion,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “I think we have to do it.”
The controversy stems from the editing of the documentary “Trump: A Second Chance?” for the investigative television series “Panorama.”
The documentary aired in October 2024, days before Trump won a second term as president in November of that year.
President Trump and his allies claimed that the Panorama documentary attempted to misrepresent what he said on January 6, 2021, when a group of his supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election.
The Republican leader lost that election to Democratic rival Joe Biden. But he falsely claims his defeat was due to widespread voter fraud.
The Panorama documentary compiled together two separate quotes from President Trump’s speech on the day of the riot, delivered approximately an hour apart.
Together, they appeared to show President Trump exhorting his supporters to “fight like hell” after walking to the Capitol.
President Trump and his supporters say the edits are misleading and omit important context. For example, at one point in his speech, Trump told his supporters to “make your voices heard peacefully and patriotically.”
President Trump also called on his supporters to “support our brave senators, congressmen and women,” following his own appeal to walk to the Capitol.
Riots at the BBC
The controversy surrounding the documentary comes at a time when the BBC is facing allegations of internal bias leaked to the media.
Earlier this month, the Daily Telegraph published an internal BBC memo in which former adviser Michael Prescott raised concerns about “systemic problems” in the broadcaster’s coverage of hot topics such as transgender rights and Israel’s war in Gaza, which experts have labeled a genocide.
The BBC has repeatedly denied systemic bias and its leadership has stood firm on the quality of its reporting.
However, this strict scrutiny brought about major changes in the leadership of broadcasting stations. On November 9, director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness resigned in separate letters to BBC staff.
Mr Davie wrote in the letter: “Overall the BBC has done well, but there have been some mistakes and as director-general I must take ultimate responsibility.”
“Our institutions are critical to the health of our societies and the flourishing of creative fields. We should defend them, not weaponize them.”
Last week, the BBC published a “personal letter” apologizing to the US president amid Trump’s threat of legal action.
A statement from a spokesperson said that Mr Shah and the BBC “regret the editing of the President’s speech”. He also confirmed that the documentary will not be rebroadcast.
However, Mr Shah and the BBC nevertheless remained adamant against the possibility of litigation.
“The BBC deeply regrets the way the video clip was edited, but strongly disagrees that the defamation claim has merit,” it said in a statement.
History of suing news organizations
Trump has a history of pursuing legal claims against news organizations he deems unfavorable, even though experts say his claims have no legal basis.
For example, last year, President Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC News after the anchor falsely said in a live interview that the president was “found responsible for rape.”
He was found guilty of sexual abuse, not rape, in a civil suit brought by author E. Jean Carroll.
ABC News agreed to pay $15 million to settle the lawsuit in December 2024.
President Trump also sued CBS News for editing an interview with his 2024 election rival, Democrat Kamala Harris, on the TV show “60 Minutes.”
In July, CBS parent company Paramount agreed to a $16 million settlement after seeking approval from the Trump administration to proceed with the merger.
President Trump also refiled a separate defamation lawsuit against The New York Times last month, a month after a federal judge dismissed the paper.
In a letter on Monday, BBC Chairman Shah pointed out the cost that such litigation could impose on the BBC and the viewers who pay license fees to view its work.
“In all of this, we are, of course, keenly aware of the privilege of funding and the need to protect the British people who pay the license fee,” Shah wrote.
Legal experts say President Trump’s claims against the BBC will face an uphill battle, especially in the United States, where the First Amendment includes strong protections for news organizations.
