Donald Trump's press secretary has described the BBC as "100% fake news" and a "biased media outlet" in a blunt discussion. This comes allegations of partiality at the network.
Senior Administration Figure Condemns BBC Reporting
The White House official, a senior representative in the previous US government, remarked that watching BBC bulletins during visits to the UK "ruins" her day. She claimed that taxpayers are "forced to foot the bill for a leftist propaganda machine."
Controversy Over Edited Speech
The spokesperson's statements came after lawmakers said the broadcaster had "serious questions to answer" regarding how a public address by the US president was edited in a BBC Panorama documentary.
A report leaked to a publication indicated that an episode of the news programme "completely misled" viewers by combining two segments of the speech together.
The programme showed the leader saying he would march with his followers to the Capitol ahead of the disturbances on January 6th, urging them to "fight like hell". However, it excluded a section of the speech where he urged the crowd "to express views calmly and loyally".
“This intentionally deceptive, carefully cut footage from the BBC further proves they are entirely, 100% fake news, unworthy of airtime on the screens of the UK's admirable citizens.”
Leavitt continued: "Every time I journey to the United Kingdom with President Trump and am obliged to watch the BBC in our hotel rooms, it mars my day listening to their overt 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."
Disclosed Memo Highlights Production Problems
The publication said its coverage was based on a note written by a former adviser to the BBC's content standards board. The adviser left his role earlier this year and has not commented on the file, understood to have been leaked by a insider.
A passage 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."
Allegations of Systemic Issues
The report reportedly added that the former adviser had raised concerns about how BBC Arabic reported on the war in Gaza.
The newspaper said the author asserted there were "institutional issues", which had not been resolved by top executives. He supposedly cited "clear disparities" between the reporting of the war on BBC Arabic and on the primary BBC site.
One issue highlighted was the repeated use of analysts who were antisemitic or supportive of the militant group.
Criticism of Trans Issues Reporting
The 19-page dossier is also said to have criticised the BBC's handling of transgender issues, saying the network had been "captured by a small group of [staff] promoting the Stonewall view" of gender identity issues and that its LGBT unit would "decline to cover any stories raising difficult questions".
It is said to have claimed that stories raising challenging questions about trans issues were suppressed, with a "constant drip-feed of one-sided stories promoting the trans experience without adequate fairness or objectivity".
BBC 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.|The ex-consultant previously advised a panel where varied perspectives on our reporting are regularly examined and contested."
