Sir Keir Starmer has “full confidence” in the BBC’s director-general despite the broadcaster doctoring Donald Trump’s January 6 speech to make it appear that the US President was encouraging his supporters to riot in the Capitol.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman was today pressured to directly address growing concerns after The Telegraph released extracts of a dossier on BBC bias.
The BBC was found to have “completely misled” viewers by showing the 47th President telling his supporters he was going to walk to the Capitol with them to “fight like hell” against his 2020 defeat.
The footage, which was used in a Panorama documentary released just weeks before the 2024 US Presidential Election, merged parts of Mr Trump’s speech that had been filmed almost an hour apart.
The BBC Arabic news channel was also accused of “minimising Israeli suffering” in the war against Gaza.
Anti-Israel coverage sought to”paint Israel as the aggressor”, the leaked internal report added.
However, the Department for Culture, Media & Sport is now looking over the 19-page dossier.
Despite throwing his weight behind Mr Davie, Sir Keir is also said to want the BBC to “uphold the highest standards of impartiality”.
The Prime Minister also believes it is ‘crucial that the BBC upholds highest standards of impartiality’, an official No10 spokesman said
Following the first release of the bombshell dossier, a BBC spokesman told GB News: “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 debates.”
While the Prime Minister stands by Mr Davie, MPs prepare to hold an urgent meeting to discuss BBC bias.
Dame Caroline Dinenage, who chairs the Culture, Media & Sport Committee, confirmed the group will address the “implications” of recent revelations which highlighted that the BBC had “misled” viewers in a Panorama programme about Mr Trump and “chose to minimise Israeli suffering” in a Gaza documentary.
Dame Caroline said: “At a time when trust in both politics and mainstream media is so low, our state broadcaster has an additional responsibility to ensure that it reports contentious and potentially inflammatory issues with a straight bat.
“These allegations are extremely worrying and come at a critical time for the BBC.
“The DCMS committee will meet tomorrow and will no doubt discuss the implications of this.”
Meanwhile, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called on Mr Davie to sack staff who “misled” viewers by editing Mr Trump’s speech.
Broadcasting House came under fire for its coverage of Donald Trump
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PAMrs Badenoch told GB News: “Everyone with a TV pays a licence, they are funded by us and they should not be telling us things that are not true. Heads should roll.”
The White House is also believed to be monitoring the situation following initial revelations about the BBC’s coverage of Mr Trump’s January 6 speech.
Donald Trump Jr responded with fury to The Telegraph’s first story on BBC bias.
“The FAKE NEWS ‘reporters’ in the UK are just as dishonest and full of s**t as the ones here in America,” the US President’s son said.
Tim Davie received Sir Keir Starmer’s backing today
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GETTYIn the controversial Panorama programme, Mr Trump appears to say: “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you and we fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell you’re not gonna have a country any more.”
Meanwhile, the original footage showed the US President told supporters: “We’re gonna walk down, and I’ll be there with you, we’re gonna walk down, we’re gonna walk down any one you want but I think right here, we’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong … I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Around an hour later, Mr Trump added: “Most people would stand there at nine o’clock in the evening and say I wanna thank you very much, and they go off to some other life but I said something’s wrong here, something’s really wrong, can’t have happened, and we fight.
“We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not gonna have a country any more.”
