Outgoing BBC Director General, Tim Davie will address staff today, a day after US President Donald Trump threatened to sue the corporation for $1 billion
Davie and head of news Deborah Turness resigned on Sunday, after days of pressure sparked by a leaked memo
The memo – written by ex-BBC adviser Michael Prescott – made a series of claims, including that Panorama misleadingly edited a speech by Trump
On Monday, BBC chair Samir Shah apologised for Panorama’s “error of judgement”, saying splicing parts of Trump’s speech together “did give the impression of a direct call for violent action”
Trump’s legal team has written to the BBC, giving them until Friday to apologise and “appropriately compensate” him.
If that doesn’t happen, the letter says, “President Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights… including by filing legal action for no less than $1,000,000,000 in damages”
This is completely new territory for the BBC. But in the US, a succession of media outlets have caved in to Trump’s legal threats.
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Paramount Global paid him $16 million to settle a dispute over an interview broadcast on CBS with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
And ABC News paid him $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit after its anchor falsely claimed he had been found “liable for rape”.
Now, Trump has the BBC in his sights. He wants a full retraction of the Panorama documentary, an apology for the “false, defamatory, disparaging, misleading and inflammatory statements” made about him in it, and appropriate compensation “for the harm caused”.
Yesterday, BBC chair Samir Shah accepted that Panorama made an “error of judgement” by splicing together separate parts of Trump’s speech.
However, he said the BBC will reply to Trump’s threat “in due course”.
