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The former US president's press secretary has described the BBC as "100% fake news" and a "biased media outlet" in a forthright discussion. This comes allegations of bias at the broadcaster.

White House Official Condemns BBC Reporting

Karoline Leavitt, a high-ranking figure in the Trump administration, remarked that watching BBC bulletins during trips to the UK "ruins" her day. She asserted that the public are "forced to foot the bill for a liberal propaganda machine."

Controversy Over Edited Address

The spokesperson's comments emerged after lawmakers said the corporation had "serious questions to answer" regarding how a public address by the US president was edited in a BBC Panorama documentary.

A document disclosed to a newspaper suggested that an installment of the news programme "thoroughly deceived" viewers by combining two parts of the speech together.

The programme showed the president saying he would walk with his supporters to the Capitol prior to the riots on 6 January 2021, urging them to "fight like hell". Nevertheless, it excluded a portion of the talk where he advised the crowd "to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard".

“This intentionally deceptive, carefully cut footage from the BBC further proves they are entirely, 100% fake news, unworthy of airtime on the screens of the UK's admirable citizens.”

The press secretary continued: "Whenever I travel to the United Kingdom with President Trump and am forced to watch the BBC in our hotel rooms, it ruins my day listening to their overt propaganda and lies about the president of the United States and all that he’s doing to make America better and the world a safer place."

Disclosed Memo Emphasizes Production Issues

The publication said its coverage was based on a memo authored by a former adviser to the BBC's content standards committee. The expert left his position earlier this year and has not spoken on the file, understood to have been leaked by a insider.

An extract published read: ""Editing the footage as Panorama broadcast it was utterly deceptive. The absence of a direct call for supporters to march and battle at Capitol Hill partly explained why no federal incitement charges were filed."

Allegations of Systemic Issues

The report reportedly noted that the ex-consultant had expressed worries about how BBC Arabic reported on the conflict in Gaza.

The newspaper claimed the author alleged there were "systemic problems", which had not been resolved by top executives. He reportedly cited "clear disparities" between the reporting of the war on BBC Arabic and on the primary BBC site.

One issue highlighted was the repeated use of commentators who were antisemitic or supportive of the militant group.

Censure of Transgender Topics Reporting

The 19-page file is also reported to have criticised the BBC's coverage of gender identity matters, saying the network had been "captured by a small group of [staff] promoting the Stonewall view" of gender identity issues and that its LGBT desk would "decline to cover any stories raising difficult questions".

It is said to have claimed that stories raising challenging questions about transgender matters were suppressed, with a "constant drip-feed of one-sided stories celebrating the trans experience without adequate balance or objectivity".

BBC Response

In answer, the BBC stated: "While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully."

"The former adviser is a former adviser to a board committee where differing views and opinions of our coverage are routinely discussed and debated.|He previously advised a panel where varied perspectives on our reporting are regularly examined and contested."