Trump versus the BBC and the Media with Dr. Greg Simons, John Mair & Mike Ryan on The Protagonists.

Trump versus the BBC and the Media

The BBC is on the back foot. Its been caught out with a misleading piece of editing of President Trump's January 6 speech. Trump is threatening to sue the BBC for no less than $1 billion, claiming the Panorama documentary misrepresented his role in the January 6 attack. Trump's legal team says the BBC edited video to look like he urged supporters to "fight like hell" immediately after directing them to march on the Capitol.

Trump has not backed down despite an apology and the resignation of two senior staff including the BBC Director General and News CEO. In interviews he has stated that he has an obligation to sue the BBC over its fake news and it should be stopped as what's been done to him can easily be done to others.

The broadcaster's supporters argue that Trump's threats to the BBC (and American media) are aimed at silencing critics and undermining the press. Indeed so concerned it was about the law suit, the BBC has censored parts of a transcript of a prestigious lecture given by a Dutch writer; telling its presenters and journalists they cannot even quote the censored lines which accuse Trump of being the most openly corrupt president in American history.

Will Trump pull down the BBC or is the BBC pulling itself down. Its withstood many scandals and constant accusations of bias. An internal report outlined major concerns about poor editorial standards and bias. In addition, The BBC is now losing more than £1bn a year from households either evading the licence fee or deciding they do not need one.

What does our expert panel thinks about Trump's intervention - should it be feared or welcomed as a way of improving BBC editorial standards - or will Trump bring the house down on this British Institution.

Mike Ryan HOST

GUESTS

Dr. Greg Simons, Geopolitical Commentator & Expert in Media & Communications.

Dr. Greg Simons is a geopolitical commentator and a Professor based at the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication, Daffodil International University in Bangladesh. He has expertise on Russian mass media; terrorism; public diplomacy; the relationship between politics, information and armed conflict. He is currently working on the role of information and communication in contemporary geopolitics.

John Mair, Journalist & Broadcaster.

John Mair is a Journalist & Broadcaster and one of the most prolific editors of books on modern journalism in Britain today. This publication is his 24th 'hackademic' text; he is currently putting together the 25th – on 'Anti-Social Media'. The books bring together the work of journalists and academics to discuss vital issues such as data journalism, Brexit, Trump and the media, the death of print and the Leveson Inquiry. The genre he invented – with books jointly edited with Richard Tait, Tor Clark, Richard Lance Keeble, Raymond Snoddy and others – is widely recognised as constituting a major addition to contemporary journalism studies. John has practised journalism at the BBC, Channel Four and other broadcasters and taught it at the universities of Coventry, Westminster, Brunel, Kent and Edinburgh Napier. He has judged the British Press Awards, the British Journalism Awards, the Royal Television Society Journalism Awards and helped to set up the Steve Hewlett Memorial Lecture and Scholarships.

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