Ex-BBC journalist Linden Kemkaran has pinpointed the moment the broadcaster "changed its values," warning that staff became too afraid to challenge the creeping "groupthink" in the newsroom.
Speaking to GB News, Ms Kemkaran looked back at her 20 years working at the BBC, saying that when she joined in the late 1990s the corporation "stood for truthful, accurate broadcasting" and editors "would have rather died than let something go to air that wasn’t absolutely spot on".
The comments follow Donald Trump’s exclusive interview with GB News yesterday, in which he vowed to sue the BBC after it emerged the broadcaster had spliced together footage of two speeches nearly an hour apart, making it appear as if he was inciting violence.
In a world-exclusive interview at the White House, the US President told GB News that he will continue pursuing legal action against the corporation as it is his "obligation".
Ms Kemkaran looked back at her 20 years working at the BBC
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Ms Kemkaran told GB News: “Well, Dawn, the BBC is in big trouble, and it gives me no pleasure to say this because I spent 20 years of my life working at the BBC in the heart of the main newsroom, covering national and international news.
"When I joined, it was the late 90s, and the BBC was a very, very different organisation then. It’s never been perfect.
The BBC has faced controversy this week
|BBC
"Nobody ever said it was. But what it was when I joined was somewhere I was very, very proud to say that I worked for the BBC because, in those days, it stood for truthful, accurate broadcasting.
"You know, the editors back in my day would have rather died than let something go to air that wasn’t absolutely spot on and truthful.
"However, I was a staff member there for 10 years, and then I went back as a freelance, and I think it was around 2013–2014, running up to the big Brexit referendum, that I noticed a big change in how the corporation was being run.
"A lot of new people had come in, and because I was then freelance, I was going away doing other work and then coming back, so I was able to see the changes happening.
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"And it wants to blame the far right, as it seems to want to blame the far right for everything nowadays.
"I don’t think the far right were in that edit suite when President Trump’s speech was spliced together to make it appear as if he had incited violence, when, of course, he hadn’t."
In a public apology, speaking to GB News last night Mr Trump said he had no choice but to continue with the lawsuit
He said: "I'm not looking to get into lawsuits, but I think I have an obligation to do it.
"This was so egregious. If you don't do it, you don't stop it from happening again with other people. I'd like to find out why they did it."