UK gov’t probes internal BBC memo alleging biased Trump, Gaza coverage
According to a whistleblowing memo now under investigation by British Parliament, the BBC allegedly edited President Donald Trump’s speech before the U.S. Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021, in a misleading way, The Telegraph reports. The memo also claims that BBC Arabic, the BBC’s Arabic-language news coverage, was unfair in its reporting regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Michael Prescott, who served as an independent adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee (EGSC) until June, became very upset by the BBC’s failure to address multiple cases of alleged bias. He initially wrote the memo to the news outlet’s board of directors in September, outlining the BBC’s problems.
He said the BBC’s impartiality issues were so “egregious” that it could make viewers lose confidence in the network and wonder whether its journalism can still be trusted. The memo recently found its way to members of Parliament.
Editing Trump statements
Prescott cites a Panorama program, the BBC’s investigative TV show, titled “Trump: A Second Chance?,” which aired a week before the U.S. presidential election.
The program’s footage, in contrast with unedited video of Trump’s speech, made it seem like Trump was encouraging his supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and “fight like hell,” which many critics interpreted as promoting violence. However, Trump’s actual words told his supporters to walk to the Capitol “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” a nonviolent statement.
The memo, according to The Telegraph, alleges that the BBC program distorted Trump’s words by editing together parts of his speech that were separated by almost an hour, making it seem like he said something he never actually said. This editing technique, known as “splicing,” involves cutting and joining video clips in a way that changes their original meaning.
Claims of bias in BBC Arabic’s reporting
The whistleblower report also alleges that BBC Arabic, the corporation’s Arabic-language news service, was biased in its coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
It claims the BBC Arabic news service intentionally downplayed the suffering of the Israeli people during the Gaza war. The purpose of doing this, the report claims, was to make Israel look like the aggressor and the one at fault in the conflict. The memo also says that accusations made against Israel were quickly broadcast without proper fact-checking or verification.
The Telegraph-sourced memo placed parallel coverage from BBC and BBC Arabic next to each other, showing how the Arabic outlet’s coverage reported on similar issues but amplified voices from sources like Hamas. The whistleblower also pointed to BBC Arabic giving unquestioned coverage of casualty numbers in Gaza that Prescott said were questioned inside the BBC as to their veracity.
In his letter, Prescott also flagged concerns about a documentary that aired in February 2025 entitled “Gaza: Surviving a War Zone.” According to minutes from a March meeting of the BBC Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee obtained by Straight Arrow News, the BBC conducted a session with Ofcom, the U.K.’s official broadcasting regulator, which included a “discussion about issues with the Gaza film and the importance of maintaining audience trust.”
While Prescott was a journalist for years before working in communications, his LinkedIn profile lists him as a former employee of Weber Shandwick. The PR firm merged in 2002 with Israeli PR firm Rimon Cohen, which Vice News reports represented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the time.
Calls for investigation and BBC response
The BBC is under scrutiny for potentially biased or misleading reporting, both about Trump’s speech and its Gaza war coverage, leading to calls for official investigations. Lisa Nandy, the U.K. Culture Secretary, and Ofcom are facing increasing pressure to investigate the BBC for possible bias.
Caroline Dinenage, the chairman of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee (DCMS), wrote a letter to BBC Chair Dr. Samir Shah.
“The BBC promotes itself as the U.K.’s most widely used and trusted source of news,” Dinenage wrote. “I am extremely worried that the coverage of Mr. Prescott’s report is suggesting the BBC is engaging in precisely the kind of presentation that is associated with less trusted news sources.”
She is also requesting details about the steps being taken to ensure the BBC’s guidelines and editorial standards are being properly followed.
According to the BBC, a spokesperson for the news company responded saying: “While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully.”
A BBC spokesperson also responded to the BBC Arabic claims, saying, “With regard to BBC News Arabic, where mistakes have been made or errors have occurred, we have acknowledged them at the time and taken action. We have also previously acknowledged that certain contributors should not have been used and have improved our processes to avoid a repeat of this.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
