BBC Trump documentary: Crisis—error or manipulation?
In an interview with experts in the field of journalistic ethics, El Pais newspaper discussed the origin of the conflict between the BBC, the British state media, and the US President, stating: The BBC is facing an unprecedented crisis due to the controversial editing of Donald Trump’s speech in a documentary that aired a year ago. The incident has had a profound impact on the trust and professional ethics of this prestigious British company, as well as journalistic practice in general.
Following what the BBC described as an “error in judgment,” Director General Tim Davey and Head of News Deborah Turness resigned. However, this action was not enough to prevent an earthquake that shook the institution’s foundation.
The Spanish media added: The debate over the editing of Trump’s speech in the hours leading up to the riots on January 6, 2021 (January 17, 2021) in the Capitol building has jeopardized the BBC’s most important intangible asset: its reputation. Resolving this issue requires determining whether it was a genuine catastrophic error of judgment or deliberate manipulation.
“The BBC is a living example for those who distrust the media.”
According to Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, a professor of communications at the University of Copenhagen and former director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University, the “editing of Panorama” that led to the scandal is a matter that has “worried those who fear that journalism can sometimes degenerate into disinformation.”
He noted that “Trump’s support for the January 6 [2021] rebels is well documented.” However, the editing of the controversial documentary “creates a fundamentally misleading representation of what he actually said in the speech in question.”
“The team involved in this documentary, as well as the BBC staff who oversaw it, have a responsibility to set a lasting example for critics of the network and those who distrust public service media or fear that journalists will distort the truth rather than report it,” he said.
The BBC has emerged as a united front in the face of Trump’s threat of a lawsuit worth at least $1 billion. On Tuesday, Davy appeared on a video call with all staff alongside BBC chairman Samir Shah to say he was “passionately proud of the organisation” and to confirm that its journalists were doing “a fantastic job.” Although he acknowledged “mistakes that have cost us money.”
“Trump’s speech did not need editing.”
As Julie Pozetti, director of the Centre for Journalism and Democracy at City, St George’s, University of London, called the case “an unfortunate error of judgment but also an unnecessary one because Trump’s speech did not need editing to convey a message that clearly sounded like incitement to riot.”
She added that, however, “a simple production error has been manipulated into an unfounded accusation of systemic bias and a political campaign to discredit one of the world’s most respected news organizations.”