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The former US president's press secretary has characterized the BBC as "completely fake news" and a "propaganda machine" in a forthright discussion. This comes claims of bias at the broadcaster.

White House Official Condemns BBC Reporting

The White House official, a high-ranking representative in the previous US government, remarked that viewing BBC bulletins during trips to the UK "ruins" her day. She claimed that taxpayers are "forced to foot the bill for a leftist propaganda machine."

Dispute Over Altered Speech

Leavitt's comments came after MPs said the broadcaster had "significant concerns to answer" regarding how a public address by the US president was edited in a BBC Panorama program.

A document leaked to a newspaper indicated that an episode of the current affairs programme "thoroughly deceived" viewers by splicing two segments of the speech together.

The programme depicted the leader saying he would march with his followers to the Capitol ahead of the disturbances on January 6th, urging them to "fight like hell". However, it omitted a section of the speech where he advised the crowd "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.”

The press secretary continued: "Every time I journey to the United Kingdom with President Trump and am obliged 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."

Leaked Memo Emphasizes Production Problems

The newspaper said its reporting was based on a memo written by a ex- adviser to the BBC's editorial guidelines committee. The expert left his position earlier this year and has not spoken on the file, believed to have been revealed by a whistleblower.

A passage published 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."

Allegations of Systemic Problems

The report reportedly noted that the former adviser had expressed concerns about how BBC Arabic covered the war in Gaza.

The newspaper said the author asserted there were "institutional issues", which had not been addressed by senior management. He reportedly cited "stark differences" between the reporting of the hostilities on BBC Arabic and on the primary BBC site.

One issue pointed out was the frequent use of analysts who were prejudiced against Jewish people or pro-Hamas.

Criticism of Trans Topics Reporting

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

It is reported to have alleged that stories posing complex questions about transgender matters were suppressed, with a "constant drip-feed of biased stories promoting the trans experience without adequate fairness or objectivity".

BBC Reply

In answer, 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."