The former US president's official spokesperson has characterized the BBC as "100% fake news" and a "biased media outlet" in a forthright interview. This comes claims of bias at the network.
White House Official Condemns BBC Coverage
The White House official, a senior representative in the Trump administration, stated that viewing BBC bulletins during visits to the UK "ruins" her day. She claimed that the public are "forced to foot the bill for a leftist propaganda machine."
Controversy Over Edited Address
Leavitt's comments emerged after MPs said the broadcaster had "serious questions to answer" regarding how a speech by the American leader was edited in a BBC Panorama documentary.
A report leaked to a newspaper suggested that an installment of the news programme "thoroughly deceived" audiences by combining two parts of the speech together.
The broadcast showed the president saying he would walk with his followers to the Capitol ahead of the riots on January 6th, urging them to "fight like hell". However, it excluded a section of the speech where he urged the assembly "to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard".
“This purposefully dishonest, selectively edited clip by the BBC is further evidence that they are total, 100% fake news that should no longer be worth the time on the television screens of the great people of the United Kingdom.”
Leavitt continued: "Whenever I journey to the United Kingdom with President Trump and am forced to watch the BBC in our hotel rooms, it ruins my day listening to their blatant propaganda and lies about the president of the United States and all that he’s doing to make America better and the world a safer place."
Leaked Document Highlights Production Issues
The newspaper said its reporting was based on a note written by a former consultant to the BBC's editorial guidelines committee. The expert departed his role earlier this year and has not commented on the file, understood to have been leaked by a insider.
An extract published read: "It was completely misleading to edit the clip in the way Panorama aired it. The fact that he did not explicitly exhort supporters to go down and fight at Capitol Hill was one of the reasons there were no federal charges for incitement to riot."
Claims of Widespread Issues
The memo reportedly noted that the ex-consultant had raised worries about how BBC Arabic covered the war in Gaza.
The newspaper claimed the adviser asserted there were "institutional issues", which had not been resolved by top executives. He reportedly cited "stark differences" between the reporting of the war on BBC Arabic and on the main BBC site.
One issue pointed out was the repeated use of analysts who were antisemitic or supportive of the militant group.
Criticism of Trans Issues Reporting
The lengthy dossier is also said to have criticised the BBC's coverage of transgender issues, saying the broadcaster had been "influenced by a small group of [staff] promoting the Stonewall view" of sexual identity issues and that its LGBT desk would "decline to cover any stories raising difficult questions".
It is said to have claimed that stories posing challenging questions about trans issues were suppressed, with a "constant drip-feed of one-sided stories celebrating the trans experience without adequate fairness or objectivity".
The Broadcaster Reply
In answer, the BBC stated: "Although we refrain from discussing disclosed papers, the BBC treats all input earnestly and reviews it thoroughly."
"The former adviser is a former adviser to a board committee where differing views and opinions of our coverage are routinely discussed and debated.|He previously advised a panel where varied perspectives on our reporting are regularly examined and contested."
