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The former US president's press secretary has described the BBC as "100% fake news" and a "propaganda machine" in a blunt discussion. These remarks follow claims of bias at the network.

White House Official Condemns BBC Coverage

Karoline Leavitt, a senior representative in the Trump administration, remarked that watching BBC bulletins during visits to the UK "ruins" her day. She asserted that taxpayers are "forced to foot the bill for a leftist propaganda machine."

Dispute Over Edited Address

Leavitt'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 report disclosed to a publication indicated that an installment of the news programme "thoroughly deceived" viewers by splicing two parts of the speech together.

The broadcast showed the leader saying he would walk with his supporters to the Capitol ahead of the riots on January 6th, encouraging them to "fight like hell". However, it omitted a section of the talk where he urged the assembly "to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard".

“This purposefully dishonest, selectively edited clip by the BBC is further evidence that they are total, 100% fake news that should no longer be worth the time on the television screens of the great people of the United Kingdom.”

Leavitt continued: "Whenever I travel to the United Kingdom with President Trump and am obliged to watch the BBC in our hotel rooms, it mars 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 Highlights Production Problems

The newspaper reported its reporting was based on a memo written by a ex- adviser to the BBC's content standards board. The expert left his position recently and has not commented on the document, understood to have been revealed by a whistleblower.

A passage released read: "It was completely misleading to edit the clip in the way Panorama aired it. The fact that he did not explicitly exhort supporters to go down and fight at Capitol Hill was one of the reasons there were no federal charges for incitement to riot."

Claims of Systemic Problems

The memo reportedly noted that the former adviser had expressed worries about how BBC Arabic covered the conflict in Gaza.

The newspaper claimed the adviser alleged there were "institutional issues", which had not been addressed by top executives. He reportedly cited "clear disparities" between the coverage of the hostilities on BBC Arabic and on the main BBC site.

One matter highlighted was the frequent use of analysts who were prejudiced against Jewish people or supportive of the militant group.

Censure of Transgender Topics Coverage

The lengthy dossier is also said to have faulted the BBC's coverage of transgender issues, stating the network had been "captured by a small group of [staff] promoting the Stonewall view" of sexual identity issues and that its LGBT desk would "decline to cover any stories raising difficult questions".

It is said to have alleged that stories posing challenging questions about transgender matters were downplayed, with a "steady stream of biased stories celebrating the trans experience without adequate fairness or impartiality".

The Broadcaster Reply

In response, the BBC stated: "Although we refrain from discussing disclosed papers, the BBC treats all input earnestly and reviews it thoroughly."

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