A GB News guest has ardently defended the BBC after the broadcaster was slapped with accusations of bias over a misleading Donald Trump documentary.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that staffers had edited a Panorama documentary to make it seem as though the US President told supporters to “fight like hell” on the same day as the storming of the Capitol.
Since, a row has broken out between the broadcaster and Donald Trump’s White House with the latter claiming the edit was “100 per cent fake news”.
But political commentator Matthew Stadlen has delivered a strong defence of the corporation, claiming that “the idea that the Trump White House now is getting on its high horse is going to be lost on nobody”.
“Five years ago, CNN compiled a report, I think a sort of dossier on the number of untruths and misleading statements that Donald Trump had made. And it came up with a figure of something like 20,000,” Mr Stadlen claimed.
“Maybe not untrue specifically, but false and misleading statements.”
Meanwhile, fact-checking teams at The Washington Post recorded 30,573 false or misleading claims during Mr Trump’s first term, which comes to approximately 21 statements a day.
Additionally, the Toronto Star jotted down 5,276 false claims between January 2017 to June 2019.
The corporation has fended off accusations of bias since the edited footage came to light
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GB NEWS/REUTERS
Mr Stadlen, who is a former BBC employee, claimed: “It is also true that on that day, on the January 6 2021, that we can all remember, Donald Trump did behave disgracefully.
“He was refusing to accept the result of a democratic election, and he was encouraging his supporters to march on the Capitol.
“It is also true that clip was indeed misleading, and it is absolutely right that our public service broadcaster is not a state broadcaster, it doesn’t pump out propaganda for the Government of the day.”
He added: “It is absolutely right that our public service broadcaster is indeed scrutinised and where it makes mistakes.
“It should be held accountable, however, and although it appears to be an egregious mistake, I agree that is one mistake and I think it is c**k-up rather than conspiracy.”
The commentator further reiterated that the edit, which was broadcast a week before the 2024 US election, was an “egregious mistake” for which the BBC should apologise.
He added: “I believe, having worked at the BBC for eight-and-a-half years in the past, that it is a great institution. Of course it’s going to be flawed.
“It’s not going to be perfect. Human beings are not perfect,” Mr Stadlen declared, adding that the BBC “needs to do its damnedest” to heed impartiality and accuracy.
“And where it fails, it needs to be held to account,” he told GB News.
In the programme, Mr Trump appeared to say: “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you and we fight.
Karoline Leavitt slammed the BBC after the edited footage was revealed
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REUTERS
“We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell you’re not gonna have a country any more.”
In the actual speech, Mr Trump said: “We’re gonna walk down, and I’ll be there with you…we’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.
“I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
After the news of the edit came to light, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Telegraph: “This purposefully dishonest, selectively edited clip by the BBC is further evidence that they are total, 100 per cent fake news that should no longer be worth the time on the television screens of the great people of the United Kingdom.
“Every time 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 blatant 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.”
Tax-paying Britons have been “forced to foot the bill for a leftist propaganda machine”, Ms Leavitt slammed.