The former US president's official spokesperson has described the BBC as "100% fake news" and a "biased media outlet" in a blunt discussion. This comes claims of partiality at the network.
White House Official Condemns BBC Coverage
The White House official, a senior figure in the previous US government, stated that watching BBC bulletins during trips to the UK "ruins" her day. She claimed that the public are "compelled to foot the bill for a leftist propaganda machine."
Dispute Over Edited Speech
Leavitt's statements emerged after MPs 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 suggested that an installment of the news programme "thoroughly deceived" viewers by splicing two parts of the speech together.
The broadcast showed the leader saying he would walk with his supporters to the Capitol ahead of the disturbances on January 6th, urging them to "fight like hell". Nevertheless, it excluded a portion of the talk where he urged the assembly "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.”
The press secretary continued: "Every time I travel to the United Kingdom with President Trump and am forced 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."
Leaked Memo Emphasizes Production Issues
The publication said its coverage was based on a memo written by a former consultant to the BBC's content standards board. The expert left his position recently and has not spoken on the file, understood to have been leaked by a whistleblower.
A passage released 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 Systemic Issues
The memo reportedly added that the former adviser had expressed concerns about how BBC Arabic covered the conflict in Gaza.
The newspaper claimed the author alleged there were "institutional issues", which had not been resolved by senior management. He supposedly cited "stark differences" between the coverage of the war on BBC Arabic and on the primary BBC site.
One matter pointed out was the repeated use of commentators who were antisemitic or pro-Hamas.
Censure of Transgender Issues Reporting
The 19-page dossier is also reported to have criticised the BBC's coverage of transgender issues, stating the network had been "captured by a small group of [staff] promoting the Stonewall view" of gender identity issues and that its LGBT desk would "decline to cover any stories raising difficult questions".
It is reported to have claimed that stories posing challenging questions about trans issues were downplayed, with a "steady stream of biased stories celebrating the trans experience without adequate fairness or objectivity".
The Broadcaster Response
In response, the BBC said: "While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully."
"Michael Prescott 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."
