We examine some of the allegations against the UK broadcaster in the $10bn lawsuit
Donald Trump has made good on his threat to file a lawsuit against the BBC over its editing of a speech he made. Here the Guardian examines some of the key passages in the claim.
“As set forth in a damning and recently leaked BBC internal whistleblower document, the BBC intentionally used the Panorama documentary to maliciously, falsely, and defamatorily make it appear that President Trump explicitly called for violent action and rioting, and that he ‘said something he did not’.”
The “internal whistleblower document” was a memo sent to the board by Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to the BBC. The memo made no finding of malice although did describe the nature of the programme as being “anti-Trump” and that the splicing together of the clips “materially misled viewers”.
The issue of malice is important because public figures in the US must prove actual malice. The BBC argues that the edit was done to shorten a long clip and not with malice.
