Misreporting on Trump triggers a crisis in BBC

Is the BBC a corporation in crisis? Or is it being held up to higher standards than the rest of the media? The answer to both questions seems to be yes.

- Karan Thapar

The tragic part is that the trauma it's going through is self-inflicted and could easily have been averted or, at least, better handled. This is because it's tripped over several compounding errors of judgement, but it's not guilty of institutional bias.

The principal cause of the crisis is the unforgivable editing of a Panorama documentary on US president Donald Trump. It stitched together two different parts of a speech he gave in January 2021, which were said 54 minutes apart, to create the impression he was advocating violence. This was clearly a manipulation, and, therefore, fake, although it was not inaccurate in suggesting that Trump's role in supporting and, even, encouraging what happened on Capitol Hill raises serious and disturbing questions.

The BBC should have admitted its mistake and apologised without being forced to do so after Trump called it out and threatened to sue the Corporation. It was thus guilty of both reprehensible documentary making and refusing to accept its grievous error.