Trumped

On the 15th November Donald J Trump, idiot in chief, announced he was going to sue the BBC for a Newsnight edition that had been broadcast in the UK some 54 weeks ago, before the US election.

The Newsnight edition was not shown outside the UK, not available on the i player for anyone outside the UK, and was not repeated after November 2024.

Trump's lawyers wrote to the BBC stating the considerable reputation and financial damage Trump had been caused.

Careful reading of the letter revealed that no instances of said reputation and financial damge that had been caused, despite the claims having been made at least three times in the letter.

The UK media, especially the BBC, reported on the story, that Trump was going to sue the BBC. Resignations followed of the BBC top brass.

Lawyers for the BBC responded asking for evidence of the reputational damage, and that records of such needed to be retained.

To my knowledge, no reply to the BBC's letter was received.

The broadcasting regulator wrote to the BBC asking for evidence that the program had been broadcast in the US, specifically, the State of Florida.

In other words, there was no evidence that the Newsnight edition was broadcast or available, legally, in the US, and as such the US regulator had no juristiction.

The story was huge for days, wreaked huge damage on the BBC, and then nothing.

Now the BBC is insisting that presenters, permanent and freelances abide by regulations to limit what they say onstage: critism of Trump, support of the LGBTQ community, so much so that Robin Ince, creator and joint presenter of the long-running radio show, The Infininate Monkey Cage, has resigned.

This is where the BBC is, where the country is.