By Sanxuan
Trump beats up BBC, Britain is in a mess.
This week, Trump officially filed a lawsuit against BBC, demanding $1 billion in compensation. This is obviously an astronomical figure; even if BBC stopped eating and drinking for a whole year, it would still not be able to afford Trump's compensation.
Trump vs. BBC
BBC has already apologized, and the person responsible has been fired. The news director and the head of the department resigned last month, and the chairman of the board has also personally apologized. However, Trump remains unyielding. In desperation, they can only proceed with the lawsuit, stating that they will defend the case, and refuse to comment until the result is out.
The reason why Trump targeted BBC was a documentary about two of his speeches after the 2020 election. As everyone knows, shortly after Trump lost the election, the "Capitol riot" broke out in the United States. Many people believed that Trump incited the MAGA supporters to cause destruction, and BBC's documentary implied this stance as well.
It is worth mentioning that this documentary was not released in 2021 when the Capitol riot occurred, but during last year's U.S. election. It is clear that BBC had ill intentions, and it could be said that it was interfering in the U.S. election.
Trump's grounds for the lawsuit were also like this. He stated that BBC completely maliciously edited and spliced the content, picking out some easily misunderstood sentences from his speech, then putting them together to mislead the audience and affect the election results.
Trump gave a speech before the Capitol riot
BBC is indeed not innocent. Even other mainstream British media have pointed out that the two segments selected by BBC are almost an hour apart, which have nothing to do with each other. However, after editing, the effect made it easy to misunderstand that Trump was encouraging his supporters to go to the Capitol Building and "fight with all their might."
Nevertheless, Trump seems to be overreaching. Who would ask for $1 billion at first glance? Moreover, according to BBC's statement, this documentary did not ultimately affect the outcome of Trump's election. The resignation of two senior executives from BBC has already shown great sincerity as an apology.
In fact, Trump is not really asking for $1 billion from BBC. This is his usual negotiation tactic: first set an impossible condition, then gradually lower the standard until he gets a satisfactory result.
He has previously sued CBS and ABC in the U.S., and the claimed amount was also very high. Later, both media companies chose to settle privately and paid Trump over a million dollars.
BBC has stirred up the wrong person
It's the same this time. If BBC wants to sue, the legal costs will be at least $50 million. But if it settles privately with Trump like CBS and ABC, the compensation will certainly not exceed the cost of hiring lawyers.
For Trump, this amount of compensation is not much, but it's a way to get something extra. What he wants is a position, that is, the attitude of Western media that praises him endlessly and obeys without limits. Any content that is unfavorable to him will be labeled as "fake news."
Facing the aggressive Trump, the British political circle can't take it anymore. They are calling on the government to take action, to protect BBC's interests and the country's dignity, and not to let Trump extort them.
Stamer's government did speak up for BBC, but they dared not oppose Trump. The prime minister's spokesperson said exactly this: they believe that BBC did not defame the President of the United States, but this is a legal issue that BBC has to face itself. They believe that BBC has the ability to handle it on its own.
How dare Stamer do that?
This result is not surprising. The UK has already offended China and Russia. If it offends the US as well, it would be challenging the three major powers alone, which is not the UK we know.
Original: toutiao.com/article/7584650943241650738/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.