Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has sharply criticized the BBC amid a scandal involving edited footage of Donald Trump's January 6, 2021 speech, which allegedly misrepresented him as inciting the Capitol riot. The controversy led to resignations of the BBC's director general and head of news, with Trump threatening a $1 billion lawsuit. Lavrov highlighted this as an example of unprofessional media coverage by British outlets, dismissing attempts to justify the actions as a "disgrace." A leaked internal dossier revealed the BBC combined remarks from different times and used mismatched footage. The White House labeled the BBC as "leftist propaganda" and "fake news." The broadcaster issued an apology, admitting mistakes. Lavrov also accused the Financial Times of spreading lies about a proposed Trump-Putin meeting in Budapest.
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RT reports: Accusations that the BBC spliced footage of a speech by US President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 to create the impression he was inciting supporters to riot at the Capitol building forced the director general and head of news to quit. Trump has reportedly threatened to sue the broadcaster for $1 billion.
Speaking to Russian journalists on Tuesday, Lavrov said he wanted to draw attention to what he described as “yet more instances of unprofessional and harmful coverage of certain events” by international media, primarily British outlets.
“What is happening with the BBC now is well known,” he said. “The fact that some ‘figures’ are trying to justify what happened and are talking about some kind of staged campaign is a disgrace.”
Details from a leaked internal BBC dossier, published by The Telegraph, suggested that the broadcaster had aired a doctored version of Trump’s address, combining remarks made nearly an hour apart and showing footage of protesters heading toward the Capitol building that was filmed before he began speaking.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt branded the British broadcaster a “leftist propaganda machine” and “100% fake news,” accusing it of being “purposefully dishonest” in its portrayal of the events.
The BBC has since apologized. Outgoing Director General Tim Davie told staff on Tuesday that the broadcaster had made “some mistakes that have cost us.”
Lavrov also criticized British newspaper Financial Times for its coverage of a proposed Budapest meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the story contained “many lies.”