FCC Probes BBC Over Edited Trump Interview
▼ Summary
– FCC chair Brendan Carr is investigating whether a BBC documentary with a misleading edit of a Trump speech aired in the US.
– The investigation targets BBC, PBS, and NPR regarding the broadcast and provision of the edited speech footage.
– The controversial edit combined parts of Trump’s January 6 speech to falsely imply he explicitly called for violence.
– The documentary sparked UK debate, led to BBC resignations, and prompted Trump to threaten legal action.
– Carr has a history of targeting broadcasters, including recent threats over Jimmy Kimmel’s show and Seth Meyers’ jokes.
The Federal Communications Commission has launched a formal inquiry into whether a controversial BBC documentary featuring edited footage of a Donald Trump speech was broadcast within the United States. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr reportedly sent letters to the BBC, PBS, and NPR requesting documentation about potential distribution of the program containing what critics describe as misleading edits of the former president’s remarks.
According to a copy of the letter obtained by Breitbart, Carr has directed questions to the chief executives of NPR and PBS, along with the BBC’s director-general. The correspondence specifically asks whether the BBC provided either the video or audio of the spliced speech to American broadcast partners and demands transcripts and video recordings of any potential U.S. airings of the contentious program.
This investigation stems from a 2024 BBC Panorama documentary that presented edited segments from Trump’s January 6, 2021, speech as continuous dialogue. The program combined phrases from sections nearly an hour apart, creating the impression that Trump explicitly urged violence during the Capitol events. One particularly scrutinized segment showed Trump stating, “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you,” immediately followed by, “And we fight, we fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell you’re not gonna have a country any more.” In reality, these statements occurred at different points in the speech, with the fighting references coming 54 minutes later during a discussion about election integrity.
The documentary has generated significant controversy in the United Kingdom, where a leaked internal BBC memorandum brought the editing decisions to public attention. The revelation has ignited a national discussion about perceived media bias at the broadcaster and contributed to the resignations of both the BBC’s director-general and former head of news. Trump himself has threatened legal action against the network over the portrayal of his remarks.
Commissioner Carr has previously taken action against media organizations he considers biased. Last September, he threatened the broadcast licenses of stations airing Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night program, resulting in the show’s temporary removal from some markets. During the summer, the FCC appointed an ombudsman at CBS to monitor content as part of the Paramount-Skydance merger approval process. Carr has also publicly supported Trump’s call for Seth Meyers’ dismissal over jokes targeting the former president. Most recently, Trump suggested the FCC investigate ABC’s broadcast license after a reporter questioned him about the Epstein documents.
(Source: The Verge)
