BBC prepared to apologise to Trump to resolve billion-dollar legal threat [View all]

Source: The Guardian

The BBC is prepared to formally apologise to Donald Trump as part of its efforts to resolve his billion-dollar legal threat over its editing of one of his speeches, the Guardian understands.

However, figures at the corporation are also minded to be robust in defending its journalism in the face of allegations from Trump that it made “false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements” about him.

The BBC’s leadership is facing a looming deadline over how to reply to Trump’s legal threat to file a case in a Florida court. It follows the editing of a Trump speech in an edition of Panorama, which was a significant factor in the resignation of director general Tim Davie and Deborah Turness, its head of news.

Beyond a fresh apology, a critical question remains how far the BBC goes in defending its reporting more generally in the US, given claims from Trump’s allies that it publishes “fake news” in relation to him.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/12/bbc-prepared-to-apologise-to-trump-to-resolve-billion-dollar-legal-threat