The Dictatorship
Editing of Trump speech fuels crisis at the BBC
LONDON (AP) — The sudden resignation of two top bosses at the BBC over the editing of a speech by U.S. President Donald Trump dealt a huge blow to the broadcaster, which is revered by some in Britain as a national treasure but derided by others as outdated and left-leaning.
The century-old, publicly funded BBC faced criticism after its flagship TV news program spliced together sections of a speech Trump made on Jan. 6, 2021, so that it appeared he explicitly urged supporters to march on Capitol Hill and “fight like hell.”
The BBC chairman apologized Monday for an “error of judgment.” A letter from Trump’s attorney threatened legal actiondemanding that the broadcaster “retract the false, defamatory, disparaging and inflammatory statements” and compensate the president for the harm caused.
Critics say the episode is just the latest example of bias at the BBC, but supporters maintain that it is one of the most trusted sources of news in the U.K. and around the world, and that the departure of its most senior executives casts a chill on public-service broadcasting.
“This is an existential crisis for the BBC,” said Julie Posetti, a journalism professor at City St. George’s University of London. “In capitulating so quickly, it has sent a signal that it’s relatively easy to cow the BBC.”
That is “incredibly dangerous” in an increasingly polarized environment “where the information ecosystem is incredibly polluted,” she warned.
A look at the scandal, past criticism of the BBC and uncertainty about its future:
Accusations of institutional bias
The furor unfolded days after the right-leaning Daily Telegraph newspaper last week published details from an internal memo compiled by a former external editorial standards adviser to the BBC.
The memo raised concerns over how the BBC’s “Panorama” documentary program edited a speech by Trump.
The program, which was broadcast days before the 2024 U.S. election, as Trump ran for a second term, spliced together three quotes from two sections of the speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.”
Among the parts that were cut was a segment where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
The BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, and head of news, Deborah Turness, both resigned Sunday.
BBC Director-General Tim Davie is pictured at BBC World Service offices in London, Thursday, April 28, 2022. (Hannah McKay/Pool via AP, File)
Outgoing chief executive of BBC News, Deborah Turness, speaks to the media outside BBC Broadcasting House in London, Monday Nov. 10, 2025. (James Manning/PA via AP)
The broadcaster’s chair, Samir Shah, acknowledged that the editing gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action.” Turness said Monday that mistakes were made, but she insisted “there’s no institutional bias” at the BBC — a position supported by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The memo also criticized BBC coverage of transgender issues, alleging that the broadcaster’s reporters promoted a pro-trans agenda, and warned about an anti-Israel bias in the BBC’s Arabic service.
Longstanding criticism from the right
Reacting to the resignations Sunday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted a screen grab of an article headlined “Trump goes to war with ‘fake news’ BBC.” Trump himself wrote on social media that BBC journalists were “corrupt” and “dishonest” and “tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election.”
Critics have long charged that the broadcaster leans left, though some have also accused it of being too cautious to challenge successive Conservative Party governments. On Monday, the hard-right leader of the Reform U.K. party, Nigel Faragetold a news conference that the BBC “has been institutionally biased for decades” to loud applause from supporters.
In recent months, the corporation came under sustained criticism from all sides over its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, including its livestreaming of a rap duo’s chants calling for “death to the IDF” (Israel Defense Forces) at this year’s Glastonbury festival. It also had to remove a documentary about Gaza from its streaming service after it emerged that the child narrator was the son of a Hamas official.
Charles Moore, a former editor of the Daily Telegraph, alleged that the BBC has a consistent bias, “always from a sort of metropolitan, left position” on trans issues, as well as its coverage of race, Trump, Israel and Gaza.
“I’m not, of course, saying that it should be right-wing either,” Moore said. “I’m saying it should take impartiality seriously and put in people capable of running this gigantic and self-satisfied bureaucracy.”
Posetti disagreed and said the BBC, like many other news outlets, is under attack from right-wing voices and the Trump administration.
She acknowledged the editing mistakes but said it is wrong to call the broadcaster fake news “when patently it is not.”
“I’m not suggesting that there weren’t errors made, but I think that those errors needed to be addressed head-on, clearly and transparently and in a very timely manner.” Instead, she said, the resignations will have a “destabilizing effect.”
Staff arrive at BBC Broadcasting House in London, Monday Nov. 10, 2025. (James Manning/PA via AP)
Staff arrive at BBC Broadcasting House in London, Monday Nov. 10, 2025. (James Manning/PA via AP)
Threats from Trump to sue
Trump’s threats to take legal action over the BBC’s editing brings to mind similar legal disputes between the president and several U.S. news organizations.
In July, Paramount, which owns CBS, agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump over a “ 60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump alleged that the interview was edited to enhance how Harris, the Democratic nominee for president in 2024, sounded.
Last year, ABC News said it would pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit over anchor George Stephanopoulos ’ inaccurate on-air assertion that the president-elect had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.
Taxpayers provide funding
The BBC is funded through an annual TV license fee of 174.50 pounds ($230) paid by all households with a television.
The corporation is bound by the terms of its charter to be impartial and independent. It is not a state broadcaster beholden to the U.K. government. Its model has inspired the CBC in Canada, the ABC in Australia and other publicly funded outlets, Posetti said.
Known affectionately — or mockingly — as “Auntie,” the BBC began in the 1920s and changed the history of television when many Britons bought a TV set specifically to watch the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. It still devotes more time and resources than other outlets to events such as the death of the monarch in 2022.
Outside the U.K. the BBC World Service operates in over 40 languages and is one of Britain’s most significant cultural exports. Apart from news, it retains a huge global viewership with popular entertainment shows, including “Doctor Who,” “The Traitors” and “Strictly Come Dancing” and their spinoffs.
Ahead of the renewal of its charter in the next few years, many critics have questioned whether the license fee model is still viable at a time when viewers are turning to streaming competitors, YouTube and social media. The BBC has lost millions of pounds as more households stopped paying the fee in recent years.
“This is the BBC’s last chance,” Farage said. “If the BBC doesn’t now get a grip … then I think what you would see within the next couple of years are many, many millions just refusing, just not wanting to have the license fee.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination, a spokesperson said late Wednesday, as two retiring Republicans on the panel dug in over President Donald Trump’s personal “anti-weaponization” deal with the government he runs.
Sen. Chuck Grassley’s decision to delay the committee vote that had been set for Thursday marks a setback for one of Trump’s highest-profile Cabinet nominees, at the hands of Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a pair of Republicans set to leave the chamber next year.
“Chairman Grassley works to set President Trump’s nominees up for success in committee, not failure. Senators Cornyn and Tillis want written assurances from the Department of Justice regarding the Trump-IRS settlement,” the committee spokesperson said.
Blanche’s nomination to permanently head the Department of Justice needs the support of either Cornyn or Tillis to make it out of the committee to a vote by the full Senate, assuming all Democrats remain opposed.
“Why don’t you call over the Department of Justice and tell them they have one hour and 50 minutes to get me what I asked for,” Cornyn told reporters Wednesday afternoon amid the hardening standoff over his demand that Blanche and the DOJ put in writing a commitment never to pursue the president’s prized “anti-weaponization” fund, and to clarify the terms of Trump’s personal deal with the Internal Revenue Service.
Tillis told MS NOW that the conversations were complicated by the need for the Justice Department to get “several parties” to agree on the language of the statement Cornyn and Tillis are seeking.
“What I’ve advised the chair, and I would assume Senator Cornyn said something similar, is that we’re not prepared to vote yes yet,” he added.
“The Department has been in regular communication with Committee members for weeks, and we look forward to continuing to work productively with Senators to address any concerns,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in response to the decision to postpone the committee vote.
Cornyn was set to meet with Blanche on Wednesday morning, but the meeting was called off after Blanche failed to meet the senator’s demand for written proposals to modify the controversial settlement agreement he brokered between Trump and the IRS. The Republican senator is set to leave Congress when his term ends in January after a bruising May primary loss to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Trump’s chosen candidate.
“Maybe John Cornyn’s upset with me because I didn’t endorse him,” Trump told reporters Wednesday afternoon in the Oval Office. “I don’t know what it is, but I haven’t heard that there’s a problem. I heard (Blanche) is going through quite nicely.”
Cornyn made clear to Blanche during his confirmation hearing that he will not get his support until he agrees to reopen and modify the settlement. Due to the committee’s narrow Republican majority, one GOP “no” vote is enough to sink Blanche’s nomination.
The senator has asked Blanche to provide proof that the proposed nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund established as part of the deal between Trump and the IRS is formally dead, and he has also demanded Blanche narrow the tax audit immunity provisions the settlement afforded to Trump and his family.
Blanche has publicly stated that his department has dropped the fund, but he and the DOJ have dodged requests from Cornyn and a federal judge to put that in writing.
After announcing his meeting with Blanche would not take place Wednesday morning, Cornyn told reporters that changes from Blanche “in a modified release form” would be acceptable, but that “for some reason … they simply refuse to do it,” referring to the DOJ.
Shortly after the meeting was called off, a Justice Department official told MS NOW that the department “provided a written proposal to Senator Cornyn’s staff yesterday following ongoing discussion with both the Committee and the Senator’s office.”
Cornyn said that proposal was “not responsive” to his demands because it did not address the tax audit immunity provisions in the settlement, one of his key demands.
In May, Blanche signed an addendum as part of the deal that granted Trump, his family and his businesses immunity from pending IRS tax audits. That agreement, which has been decried by former IRS officials and legal experts as unlawful self-dealing, is being contested in federal court.
Cornyn noted that Blanche testified under oath that he could meet the request during his confirmation hearing.
“Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or you know, go along, but they’re mistaken,” Cornyn said when asked why he thinks the DOJ could be slow-walking his request.
Kevin Frey contributed to this report.
Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.
Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at BLN as a campaign reporter covering elections and politics.
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived this week for his tour of Washington, he may have had a mission in mind.
Netanyahu needed to overcome his newly diminished stature and waning influence over his once close friend President Donald Trump as both leaders grapple with the unpopularity of a war they started together and is escaping their control.
His meeting at the White House with Trump on Tuesday, which was closed to the press, was the first face-to-face encounter between the two allies since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack against Iran on Feb. 28.
Trump gave him a muted welcome and afterwards simply described the meeting as “very good.” “Obviously, many important subjects were discussed,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Rather than an intimate one-on-one setting, the Oval Office was full of top U.S. officials — Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
But Netanyahu continued the full court press on the Trump administration.
Over the course of two days, in addition to seeing Trump and attending Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral at the Capitol, Netanyahu also met separately with Vance, Hegseth, and Rubio, White House and Israeli officials confirmed to MS NOW.
The Israeli prime minister’s slate of meetings with key U.S. national security officials comes at a pivotal moment in the Iran conflict as tensions escalate in the region and Americans increasingly sour on the war. A recent Quinnipiac poll shows 60% of American voters opposing U.S. military action against Iran and 74% against sending U.S. ground troops into Iran.
Not only does Trump face pressure as Republicans face an uphill battle to retain congressional control in this fall’s midterms, Netanyahu’s fate as prime minister is at stake in Israel’s upcoming September elections – and he can’t afford to lose Trump’s favor.
The talks largely focused on what to do next as Iran continues to menace shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and retaliate against American bases in the region and launch attacks on Gulf allies.
According to a senior Israeli official who was granted anonymity to describe the closed-door meeting, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu did not come to a final decision after discussing three paths forward: get a “good deal” focused on Iran’s nuclear program and enriched material, have no deal and instead continue the blockade and economic pressure, or take escalated military action.
But Netanyahu did not tell Trump what he should do – nor did he express a preference.
The senior Israeli official noted Netanyahu has not ruled out diplomacy – as long as it is coupled with “very strong pressures,” calling the push to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program “a contest of will and a contest of force.”
“There are ways of squeezing them and squeezing them and squeezing them and negotiating at the same time,” the official said.
Netanyahu did not present President Trump with new intelligence regarding the underground Iranian nuclear facility Pickaxe Mountain, per the senior Israeli official, noting the U.S. and Israel already are constantly sharing intelligence – and know where Iran’s highly enriched material is. “We don’t think it’s moved, and I think we have a pretty good grasp on that,” the official said.
During their meeting on Tuesday, Trump and Netanyahu discussed ways Israel and the U.S. can work together to stop Iran’s nuclear program and get the Strait of Hormuz open to maritime trade, the senior Israeli official said.
The two leaders also discussed a third goal: to continue to undermine the Iranian regime and “possibly create future conditions for a change in that area.” U.S. officials have backed away from pursuing paths that would overthrow the current leadership, but Netanyahu still believes that could happen.
“The chasm that has been created between the people and the regime is not about to be closed,” the senior Israeli official said of Netanyahu’s thinking.
Netanyahu advised Trump in February that Israeli intelligence indicated launching strikes against Iran would lead to the toppling of the Islamic Republic’s regime – and five months later, the slain ayatollah’s son retains power with a close circle of hardliners, calling into question the accuracy of Israel’s intelligence apparatus.
But the senior Israeli official said at the time, Netanyahu did not promise the Iranian people would take fate into their own hands following a coordinated attack. Rather, he chose his words carefully and said that an attack could create conditions to “advance the probability or the possibility that that would happen.”
The conditions needed for the Iranian regime to fall, “did not materialize,” the official told MS NOW, adding, “not for lack of insight, but for either operational failure or decisions that were made.”
Despite Netanyahu insisting Israel and the U.S. are on the same page, differences still remain: the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey and the Saudi nuclear arrangement did not come up during Wednesday’s White House meeting, according to a second Israeli official granted anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.
Meanwhile, the conflict continues to spread, with an Iranian drone attacking a U.S. gas storage tanker off the coast of Egypt on Wednesday.
Trump indicated he would not let Iran’s latest action slide, telling reporters on Wednesday that the U.S. would retaliate against Iran even as he leaves room for diplomatic talks to resume.
“It’s our turn, and we’ll see if we get there with an agreement at some point,” Trump said. “But we’re going to hit them very hard.”
As for what it would take for Israel to join the U.S. strikes, the senior Israeli official said that if Israel is attacked by Iran, “We will respond very, very forcefully and very quickly. And I think Iran would make a great mistake.”
Julia Jester covers politics for MS NOW and is based in Washington, D.C.
International rage over FIFA’s close ties to President Donald Trump has reached a fever pitch after soccer’s governing body announced a plan to sell a significant stake to an investor group led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law.
The president and his family have all but turned the White House into their personal piggy bank. And FIFA — which has its own sordid history of corruption — seems to have made itself a party to Trump’s self-enrichment under Gianni Infantino’s leadership, such as by paying for space inside Trump Tower in New York. (The organization has defended the office rental as a World Cup outpost.)
Soccer is seen by many as a unifying game. But Trump’s incorporation of FIFA into his political dynasty is threatening that idea.
FIFA has announced plans to sell a large minority stake in a new company that will run its main events, including the World Cup and Club World Cup, as part of a plan to triple the amount of development money it dishes out to its 211 member associations.
Under the proposals — which are subject to approval by a majority of those national associations and FIFA’s 37-member council — a new entity called FIFA Forward Enterprises (FFE) will take over all commercial operations, while FIFA remains the game’s global governing body and retains a majority stake in FFE.
A press release from FIFA confirmed the plans and said Thrive Eternal, which was launched by Joshua Kushner, is expected to lead the investment group that would control FIFA Forward Enterprise. FIFA did not clarify why Thrive Eternal was selected, and Kushner was already dabbling in sports.
But Trump basically has already given son-in-law Jared Kushner carte blanche to dictate U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East while simultaneously hatching business plans in the region. (Jared Kushner has denied any conflicts of interest.)
Joshua Kushner reportedly has been a major donor to Democrats. But, predictably, the idea of another Kushner becoming financially entwined with the World Cup — the world’s most popular sporting event — and basically being dropped into a position of global significance isn’t going over well. Several other soccer governing bodies have expressed concerns, including Europe’s UEFA.
“This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” UEFA said in a statement about The Athletic’s report, adding: “The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee also rebuked the plan, writing on X: “Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough — now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a multibillion-dollar deal with Jared Kushner’s brother to sell ownership stakes in the World Cup to private investors.”
FIFA, Donald Trump’s favorite corrupt racketeering enterprise in world sports, is now going directly into business with the Trump family!
Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough—now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a… https://t.co/knSZibuMea
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) July 28, 2026
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., has already launched an investigation into the FIFA leader’s relationship with the Trump administration, while dozens of European lawmakers — citing concerns about “potential breaches of political neutrality” — have called for the FIFA Ethics Committee to investigate Infantino. This new proposal seems unlikely to assuage those concerns.
But what it does seem likely to do is fuel global anger toward the U.S. — the kind that has been growing since Trump retook office.
And when you consider that, it’s truly remarkable how the same MAGA movement whose members whined for years about politics mixing with sports is now in lockstep with a president who seems dead-set on casting his shadow over every sports event he can.
This post on X basically sums up the foul stench around FIFA’s latest proposal.
Sepp Blatter was Infantino’s predecessor as FIFA president and oversaw the organization amid some of its many scandals. When heof all people, is warning about how Trump and Infantino’s relationship is “deeply damaging” soccer, it’s a sign of how far FIFA has descended into the gutter.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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