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The British Broadcasting Corporation has been in existence since the end of World War I, dating back more than 100 years. BBC World News has won multiple Peabody Awards over the decades. And in the last fiscal year, it generated nearly $6 billion in revenue.
But this is a news organization currently in shambles. The most current scandal involves President Donald Trump’s $1 billion lawsuit against the BBC after it went full propaganda against the U.S. president with an intentionally misleading edit that would make Pravda blush at the height of the Soviet Union.
Shortly before the presidential election, the BBC decided to do a full-length package on the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021. And here’s a quote they played from Trump, which appears to show him leading a violent charge on the Capitol before voting was to occur on certifying Joe Biden’s victory two months prior.
CONCHA CALLS BBC APOLOGY HALF BAKED
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and I’ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell.”
OK, one big problem: The words quoted from Trump were taken nearly an hour apart from each other and then spliced together.
The piece didn’t stop there. After altering Trump’s words, it showed men waving flags while marching on the Capitol. Another major problem was that the flag-waving footage came from before Trump even took the stage, creating the false impression that his remarks immediately set the crowd in motion.
The BBC also engaged in classic Bias of Omission 101 by omitting this rather important part of Trump’s speech.
“I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” the president said.
So one would think that, given this overwhelming evidence of bias, U.S. media “reporters” would call out the BBC and start demanding accountability and apologies. Well, guess again. Enter CNN “media correspondent” Brian Stelter, who somehow jumped to the BBC’s defense after two of its top executives, Deborah Turness, formerly of NBC News, and Tim Davie, handed in their resignations this week.
“In a vacuum, a more-than-a-year-old editing misstep by unnamed producers would not cause the very top heads of the BBC to roll, but…” Stelter wrote on X.
Yes, just an “editing misstep” occurred. This wasn’t some rushed news package that aired in the heat of a hot story, but a documentary that took days or weeks to produce and, therefore, was not a misstep, but an effort to shape a narrative and impact an election.
Stelter would go on, with a straight face, to insist that the BBC has always strived to be “apolitical and impartial,” while also lamenting that the outlet is now “vulnerable” because Trump is a bully. Or something.
So, let’s look at that whole “apolitical and impartial” argument, shall we? Arguably, one of the biggest stories in recent memory has been the Israel-Hamas War ignited by the terrorist group’s horrific attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that left more than 1,200 dead, the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
But much like the New York Times here in the States, the BBC has gotten more than a few things wrong, as in having to make 215 corrections since the war began. That’s an average of two per week. The internal report says the stories were “found to be biased, inaccurate or misleading,” with almost all of the so-called “missteps” being against Israel.
One such report by the BBC, along with U.S. outlets including the aforementioned New York Times and CNN, that ended up being completely wrong involved a hospital in Gaza that the BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen said was “flattened” by an Israeli missile, killing hundreds. International outrage ensued to the point that fear of the conflict spreading beyond Gaza was seen as a real possibility.
But when Bowen was asked about it, he expressed zero regret, instead opting for apathy.
“No, I don’t regret one thing in my reporting, because I think I was measured throughout, I didn’t race to judgment,” claimed Bowen in an interview at the time, after literally racing to judgment.
When the interviewer pushed back that Bowen reported incorrectly that the hospital building had been flattened, he replied, “Oh yeah, well, I got that wrong.”
“I thought, well, that looks like the whole building’s gone, and that was my conclusion from looking at the pictures, and I was wrong on that. But, I don’t feel particularly bad about that,” he said with zero emotion.
Bowen, clearly not caring or at least understanding the ramifications, wasn’t suspended or reprimanded in any public way.
The BBC said it made an “error” with the Trump edit on Friday, but also said Trump’s defamation claim wasn’t warranted. Prediction: Its stance will change when this goes to trial and internal emails are released due to discovery.
The American media has been no better, especially in the past 10 years during the Trump era.
Let us count the ways:
Russia collusion hoax
Hunter Biden’s laptop is Russian misinformation
Steele dossier is factual, especially the “Trump peeing on Russian hookers” part
The Russians have bounties on U.S. Troops
Trump called dead U.S. Troops “suckers and losers”
COVID-19, coming from a coronavirus research lab, is a conspiracy theory
Trump ordered tear gas to be used on protesters in Lafayette Square
Trump is putting kids in cages (that Obama built)
Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden was an ode to Nazis
Antifa isn’t real
The border is safe and secure
Inflation under Biden was transitory.
Any videos portraying Joe Biden’s mental decline are “cheap fakes.”
U.S. bombing of the Fordow nuclear facility wasn’t really effective
And this week, of course, were the Jeffrey Epstein “bombshell” emails, released by Democrats, that legacy media is desperately trying to use to say Trump was a pedophile one day after caving on a shutdown the party created.
And it’s the biggest nothingburger this side of Trump’s tax returns.
In one email from 2011, Trump is mentioned by Maxwell as someone who “knows about the girls.” Well, duh. Epstein was indicted for soliciting prostitution in Palm Beach County in 2006. Trump also lived in Palm Beach County (Mar-a-Lago) and knew Epstein, as many of the rich and powerful did, so this reveals nothing.
Remember, Epstein was a member at Mar-a-Lago until Trump, knowing what he knew, kicked him out. In the same 2011 email, the name of an Epstein victim was curiously redacted by Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, citing victim protection.
One problem, the victim (Virginia Guiffre) died earlier this year in Australia. Now, why would Democrats redact her name? Because Guiffre has said on repeated occasions that she never witnessed Trump acting inappropriately and that he was only professional and friendly toward her, nothing more.
No matter. Most in the American media somehow see this email as a smoking gun when it actually exonerates him. In another email in 2017, after Trump assumed office, Epstein refers to Trump as “dangerous.” Epstein would be indicted by Trump’s DOJ two years later on federal sex trafficking charges.
And if there was smoking gun evidence on Trump, wouldn’t Democrats have used it in 2016, 2020, or 2024 when he ran for president?
WHY DEMOCRATS ARE OWNING THE AFFORDABILITY ARGUMENT
The BBC and the American media are mirror images of each other. And that ain’t good, considering the media is as trusted as gas station sushi at this point.
Trump will sue the BBC next. And they’ll be forced to settle just as CBS and ABC News have this year.
Accountability is coming for Britain’s once-legendary news organization. And boy, did they earn it.