In a striking intervention, the former director general of the BBC, Tony Hall, has declared that the broadcaster must not pay any money to Donald Trump, following the ex-US president's threat to sue for up to $5bn (£3.8bn).
A Question of Public Money
Speaking to the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Lord Hall was unequivocal in his stance. He stated that using licence fee payers' money to settle with Trump would be wholly inappropriate. "No, [it] should not happen," he asserted. "I don't think we should agree to any money being paid to Donald Trump. You're talking about licence fee payers' money, you're talking about public money. It would not be appropriate."
This firm position comes after Trump announced his intention to sue the BBC, despite having already received the apology he demanded concerning a misleading edit in a Panorama documentary about the 2021 Capitol riot.
The Fallout from a 'Serious Error'
Hall, who led the BBC for seven years until 2020, did not shy away from criticising the editorial mistake. He labelled the video edit a "serious error" and expressed his belief that it should have been identified and rectified much earlier in the process.
The controversy centres on an edit that made it appear Trump said in quick succession: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol … and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell." In reality, the verbatim quote from his 6 January speech was: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women." The phrase "And we fight. We fight like hell" was uttered more than 50 minutes later.
The row had severe internal consequences, leading to the resignation of two of the BBC's most senior executives: the director general, Tim Davie, and the chief executive of news, Deborah Turness.
Broader Concerns and Fresh Allegations
Beyond the immediate scandal, Lord Hall voiced a deeper worry. He said he was concerned that the hard work, diligence, and fundamental belief in impartiality demonstrated by BBC journalists were being overlooked in the heated public debate.
As if to compound the broadcaster's challenges, fresh allegations emerged last week. Reports indicated that the BBC faced separate accusations of misleading viewers about Trump's Capitol speech in an episode of Newsnight broadcast in June 2022 – more than two years before the problematic Panorama edit aired. A BBC spokesperson confirmed the corporation was looking into these new claims.
In response to the initial Panorama issue, the BBC sent an apology to Trump on Thursday and has agreed not to show the programme again. However, the corporation maintains there is no legal basis for a defamation lawsuit. The BBC chair, Samir Shah, issued a personal apology to the White House, calling the edit "an error of judgment," a sentiment echoed by the culture minister, Lisa Nandy.
Despite the apology, Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One on Friday evening: "We'll sue them for anywhere between a billion and $5bn, probably sometime next week. We have to do it." He later described the edit to GB News as "impossible to believe" and "corrupt."
