BBC manipulated quotes and footage of Trump to make people believe he led Jan. 6 riots

An internal report by the BBC, the U.K.'s public broadcasting service, revealed that the outlet manipulated words and images of Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. The aim was to make it appear that the president, who was concluding his first term at the time, encouraged those gathered outside the Capitol to cause the riots that occurred on that date.

In this report, which was accessed by British newspaper The Telegraph, the BBC's investigative program "Panorama" edited images and speeches in an episode aired shortly before the last presidential election to make the audience believe that Trump led those altercations.

In the episode, the BBC "completely misled" its audience with different edited images and words. For example, the corporation wanted viewers to believe that Trump said that day that he would go to Capitol Hill to "fight like hell." However, what the president actually said was that he would walk with them to the Capitol "to peacefully and patriotically make [their] voices heard."

In addition, the report also details that the BBC's top brass, including its chairman, "dismissed a string of serious complaints made to by the corporation's standards watchdog."

British Conservatives demand action against the BBC

Following these revelations, distinguished members of the U.K. Conservative Party demanded that internal action be taken at the BBC and against those responsible.

The leader of the Tories, as the Conservative Party is popularly known, Kemi Badenoch, demanded that those who were responsible for broadcasting those manipulations be identified. "I do think heads should roll. Whoever it was who did that should be sacked," she said. "The public need to be able to trust our public broadcaster. ... They should not be telling us things that are not true."

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called these events a "disgrace" via a message posted on X.

"This is a total disgrace. The BBC has doctored footage of Trump to make it look as though he incited a riot - when he in fact said no such thing. We have Britain’s national broadcaster using a flagship programme to tell palpable untruths about Britain’s closest ally. Is anyone at the BBC going to take responsibility - and resign?" noted Johnson.