President Donald Trump has stated he’s considering suing the BBC over an editing scandal. Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy says there’s a reason Trump has had the upper hand in other battles with media companies, but not have it in this case.
A documentary released by the BBC in 2024 edited portions of Trump’s speech on January 6th to make it appear as if Trump told his supporters to march down to the Capitol and “fight like hell.” Those edits, Trump alleges, were taken out of context and made to make him appear more responsible for the ensuing riots.
As a result, BBC News executives Tim Davie and Deborah Turness have resigned, with Trump threatening to bring a $1 billion lawsuit against the organization.
Similar lawsuits against American news outlets like ABC News and CBS News have ended in settlements, with payments made to Trump.
During an appearance on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday, Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy shared that he believes, for a multitude of reasons, that if the BBC wanted to fight the lawsuit from Trump, it would be successful.
“I’m very assured that if the BBC took the case to court, they would prevail,” Ruddy said. “They would prevail because the state of Florida has pretty strong libel laws that defend media companies and free speech.”
He added that Trump has had the leverage in similar situations against ABC News and CBS News, but shared there’s a reason those organizations chose not to battle back against the lawsuits brought against them.
“What’s happening is that a lot of media companies would prefer not to go through the media spectacle of all this,” he shared.
The Newsmax CEO continued by noting that Trump sees the settlements from ABC News and CBS News “as victories.”
“I’ve talked to him about the CBS and the ABC case, and he sees this as legitimizing his claims that there’s fake news, that the news is out to get him,” Ruddy concluded. “I think there’s a feeling that the media in America is quite weaponized.”
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