BBC To File To Dismiss Trump Lawsuit Over Panorama Edit
The BBC is pressing ahead with plans to have Donald Trump’s lawsuit over how his January 6th speech was edited in a Panorama documentary dismissed, arguing that the case should not be heard in Florida and that the claims don’t meet the legal bar for defamation.
Court filings show the broadcaster intends to ask the Florida court to throw out the suit, saying it lacks “personal jurisdiction”, the venue is “improper”, and that Trump has “failed to state a claim”. The BBC also wants the court to pause most of the evidence-gathering while that decision is made.
What is the lawsuit about?
Trump filed the lawsuit last month, seeking billions of dollars in damages over how his 6th January 2021 speech was edited in the BBC programme Trump: A Second Chance?, which aired in 2024. The controversy centres on a clip in which different parts of Trump’s speech were stitched together to show him saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol … and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.” In reality, those lines were spoken nearly an hour apart. His legal team argues that the edit falsely suggested that he urged supporters to use violence during the attack on the US Capitol.
What does the BBC say about the lawsuit?
The BBC has already acknowledged the edit was an “error of judgment” and said it gave “the mistaken impression” that Trump had made “a direct call for violent action”. However, it rejects the claim that this amounts to defamation and has refused to pay Trump any compensation.
In its legal arguments, the broadcaster says the programme was not made, produced or aired in Florida, or the US in general, and disputes Trump’s claim that it was available in the US on BritBox. It also argues that the president has not shown that the documentary has caused him any real harm, noting he was re-elected after it aired and won Florida by a large margin.
The BBC also says that Trump cannot plausibly show that the documentary was published with “actual malice”, which is the high standard public officials must meet to succeed in US defamation cases.
The fallout from the programme was significant inside the BBC. A leaked internal memo criticising the edit triggered the resignations of director-general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness, and prompted an apology from BBC chair Samir Shah.
What happens if the case does not get dismissed?
If the case is not dismissed, a trial date in 2027 has been floated. For now, the BBC says it will continue to fight the claim. A spokesperson said: “As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case. We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”
