SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
President Trump says he will sue the BBC for up to $5 billion, even after the British broadcaster formally apologized for a misleading edit of the speech that he gave on January 6. The dispute has already prompted the resignation of two top executives at the BBC, including its head of news. Journalist Willem Marx in London has been following the story and joins us now. Willem, thanks so much for being with us.
WILLEM MARX: Thanks for having me on.
SIMON: What exactly did the BBC admit to?
MARX: Well, they acknowledged that during a documentary broadcast as part of its flagship "Panorama" series, that January 6 speech by President Trump was edited in a way that it spliced together remarks made nearly an hour apart. That created the impression he made a continuous call to fight like hell and march to the Capitol. In a statement, the BBC said that it accepted that the edit, quote, "unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech." And they acknowledged this gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action. The documentary was broadcast a short time ahead of the U.S. 2024 presidential election, and the chairman of the board of the BBC governor, Samir Shah, said it would not be broadcast again.
SIMON: And what was President Trump's response?
MARX: Well, in short, he said the apology from BBC wasn't enough. A week ago, his team had issued an initial threat that demanded a retraction, an apology and a financial settlement. In that first letter, his attorney suggested he was willing to file a billion-dollar lawsuit, but last night, Trump told reporters on Air Force One en route to Florida he and his attorneys would now sue the BBC for anywhere between 1 billion and $5 billion sometime next week. The broadcaster had, he said, admitted that they cheated and, quote, "changed the words coming out of my mouth." Trump also said the U.K. government, in the form of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, was embarrassed by what had happened, and he planned to call Starmer over the weekend.
SIMON: Now, the BBC says it doesn't believe there's a legal basis for defamation. Why?
MARX: Well, the BBC says that while it sincerely regrets the manner of the edit and it's refused so far to offer a financial settlement, legal experts I've been speaking to say that's likely because the documentary in question didn't air extensively in the United States. So if Trump were to file suit in Florida as expected, he'd have to prove Americans watched it and it harmed or damaged his reputation in some way. While here in the U.K., though, legal statutes of limitations for defamation, they've already passed.
SIMON: What are the consequences for the BBC so far?
MARX: Well, the head of news and the director general - the BBC's top executive - they've both stepped down over the past week. The governments felt forced to back the BBC in parliament with the U.K.'s culture minister, a woman called Lisa Nandy, defending the broadcaster at a time of political polarization and widespread misinformation.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LISA NANDY: It is by far the most widely used and trusted source of news in the United Kingdom.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Hear! Hear!
NANDY: At a time when the lines are being dangerously blurred between fact and opinion, news and polemic, the BBC stands apart.
MARX: And listeners and viewers have been expressing their anger at the idea that their money, which funds the BBC through what's known as a license fee, could be used to pay a settlement or indeed legal damages to a foreign leader. I spoke to Stewart Purvis, who previously ran ITN. It's the major commercial news broadcaster in Britain, and it's thus the BBC's main rival on TV. And he told me this criticism of the BBC was unprecedented.
STEWART PURVIS: The BBC has faced many complaints over the years which have gone to court. Sometimes its settled. Sometimes it hasn't and is lost. But there's absolutely nothing compared with the scale, either in monetary terms by President Trump or indeed the publicity it's getting.
MARX: Now, there are other pressures the BBC is facing, for sure, Scott, in particular around its coverage of the war in Gaza, but this is by far the biggest challenge it faces right now.
SIMON: Journalist Willem Marx in London. Thanks so much for being with us.
MARX: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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