A 19-page internal document by former BBC standards adviser Michael Prescott alleges that the broadcaster manipulated footage of President Donald Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech to falsely imply incitement of violence. The report focuses on the October 2024 Panorama special Trump: A Second Chance?, which combined three separate clips from the speech into a single narrative.

The edited sequence included a line—“We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell you’re not gonna have a country any more”—spliced between two other statements, creating a misleading impression of Trump’s remarks. The original footage featured Trump urging peaceful protest at the Capitol, followed later by a separate statement about election integrity. The BBC did not label the edits or indicate timeline disruptions, according to the memo.

Prescott, who resigned from the Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee in June, warned that the alterations risked eroding public trust in the outlet. A police audio clip mentioning “three hundred Proud Boys” heading to the Capitol was also included, despite prior BBC reports stating the group had already marched before Trump’s speech.

The controversy has sparked questions about media integrity ahead of the 2024 election, with commentator Andy Ngo suggesting the editing could constitute election interference. The report highlights ongoing debates over journalistic ethics and the portrayal of political figures in broadcast journalism.