In the wake of a seismic scandal at the BBC, where top executives resigned and President Donald Trump threatened a $1 billion lawsuit over a misleading edit of his January 6, 2021, speech, accusations have now surfaced that Australia's public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), committed a strikingly similar "journalistic sin." The controversy, reignited by a November 12, 2025, New York Post report, centers on ABC's 2021 Four Corners documentary, Downfall: The Last Days of President Trump. Just as the BBC's Panorama program spliced Trump's words to imply a direct call to violence at the Capitol, ABC stands accused of selectively clipping his remarks to amplify an incendiary narrative, omitting his explicit call for peaceful protest. This isn't mere coincidence; it's a pattern that erodes public trust in state-funded media and raises urgent questions about accountability across borders.
To understand the ABC's predicament, rewind to the BBC's implosion. In October 2024, Panorama's Trump: A Second Chance? aired days before the U.S. election, featuring an edit that fused two segments of Trump's Ellipse speech, separated by nearly an hour—into a seamless call to arms: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol... and we fight like hell." This omitted Trump's earlier plea to "peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard," crafting an illusion of incitement that the House January 6 Committee itself later contextualised as a scripted outlier amid Trump's repeated "fight" rhetoric. A leaked internal memo from former BBC standards adviser Michael Prescott, published by The Telegraph in November 2025, branded the edit a "material mislead," sparking resignations from Director General Tim Davie and News CEO Deborah Turness.
Trump's response was swift and characteristically outsized: A demand letter from attorney Alejandro Brito gave the BBC until November 14, 2025, to retract the documentary, apologise, and pay up, or face a billion-dollar defamation suit under Florida law. "They defrauded the public, and they've admitted it," Trump told Fox News' Laura Ingraham, vowing to proceed because "I guess I have to." The BBC's chairman, Samir Shah, conceded an "error of judgment" that created "the impression of a direct call for violent action," issuing an apology while rejecting the lawsuit's basis. On November 13, the broadcaster formally apologised again but stood firm: No defamation, no payout, and no plans to rebroadcast.
The fallout has been global. Trump's White House press secretary, Abigail Jackson, decried it as emblematic of "deceptive editing, misleading reporting, and outright lies," fuelling distrust that drives audiences to "alternative media sources." Xerupted with comparisons to other broadcasters, including Sweden's SVT and New Zealand's 1News, accused of similar splicing. Yet the BBC saga underscores a deeper rot: When public media, funded by taxpayers, prioritises narrative over nuance, it doesn't just bias coverage, it undermines democracy.
Enter the ABC, whose Downfall episode, broadcast in February 2021, allegedly mirrors the BBC's sleight of hand. Sky News host Chris Kenny, in a November 11 monologue, dissected the footage: ABC aired Trump saying, "We're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you. Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and have to be strong," followed by Capitol riot visuals, skipping his immediate follow-up: "to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard." This "clipped up" version, Kenny charged, "suit[s] their narrative rather than reality," transforming a call for civic engagement into a blueprint for chaos.
ABC's defenders, including Managing Director Hugh Marks, fired back: The edit was from "one continuous section," retaining "essential factual elements" like the march to the Capitol and calls for strength, without altering meaning or misleading viewers. Marks dismissed BBC parallels as "opportunistic and false," insisting Downfall exemplified "powerful journalism of the highest standard." A spokesperson echoed: "The quote... did not change the meaning... and it did not mislead the audience."
But context matters. Trump's full speech, over 80 minutes, wove "fight like hell" (repeated 20 times) with that single "peacefully" line, added by speechwriters against his initial resistance, per the January 6 Committee. Omitting it isn't neutral editing; it's selective amplification. As X users noted, this tactic echoes global patterns, from SVT's splice to 1News's inferences, suggesting a coordinated anti-Trump reflex in public broadcasting. Australian critics, including News Corp outlets, amplified Kenny's call, questioning ABC's impartiality mandate under its charter.
Public broadcasters like the BBC (£3.8B from license fees) and ABC (AUD $1B+ taxpayer-funded) wield outsized influence, yet their defences — "high standards," "no misleading" — ring hollow when edits distort democratic memory. Trump's lawsuits, while bombastic, have yielded settlements: $16M from CBS over a Harris edit, a payout from ABC on unrelated defamation. Will he pursue ABC? Unclear, but the threat alone spotlights the hypocrisy: These outlets decry "disinformation" while peddling their own.
The "same journalistic sin," as Kenny aptly dubs it, isn't about Trump alone, it's about journalism's soul. Science demands full spectra, history, unvarnished timelines. By curating Trump's words to fit an "insurrectionist" frame, the BBC and ABC didn't inform, they indoctrinated, betraying the publics they serve. Trump's bombast invites scrutiny, but so does media malpractice. As X chatter swells, from MAGA cheers to liberal defences, the lesson is clear: Let full transcripts, unedited footage, and open debate prevail.
If these broadcasters truly champion "factual, accurate, and impartial storytelling," retract the edits, air corrections, and invite scrutiny. Anything less is complicity in the very "fake news" they decry. In an era of eroding trust — polls show media credibility at historic lows — transparency isn't optional; it's existential.