Good Morning Britain report sparks fury as ITV fans demand 'defund the BBC'

Good Morning Britain viewers were left furious as the programme continued its reporting on the most recent BBC scandal. The broadcaster has faced intense scrutiny after a speech made by Donald Trump was doctored during an episode of Panorama. The footage made it seem like the US President was encouraging the Capitol Hill riots in 2021 and has led to the resignations of Director General Tim Davie and CEO Deborah Turness. The debate continued on Tuesday's (November 11) edition of Good Morning Britain, where presenter Susanna Reid questioned former Newsnight reporter Michael Crick on how the BBC "messed it up so badly".

Michael responded: "It is extraordinary. Clearly it is indefensible what happened with that film and the two clips being spliced together when they were 55 minutes apart in the original speech. Nobody I've spoken to can work out how this happened. I don't believe that it was deliberately done. Some people do believe it was deliberately done." The 67-year-old admitted he didn't think the speech had been doctored on purpose, but believed it was more likely a junior reporter had been asked to splice together multiple clips.

"I hope that we manage to get to the bottom of this," he declared.

Richard probed: "If you're right and that is the sort of semi-innocent explanation for what happened, then why won't the BBC tell us?"

The presenter suggested that identifying who was responsible for the edit shouldn't be difficult. However, since the investigation must be conducted within the independent company that produced the episode, Michael speculated that some individuals may have denied involvement, making it harder to determine who was ultimately responsible.

Michael said: "It was more than a year ago that they made this programme but I agree, they surely have to get to the bottom of it and they have to get to the bottom of the oversight. Who at the BBC watched that programme. Who did the oversight at the independent company and why did alarm bells not ring there."

Regardless of the broadcaster's doubts about the BBC's intent, viewers had the same response.

One commented: "For goodness sake - they haven't even apologise to the President of the United States yet. We've had BBC staff defending the indefensible. They are all in denial. An independent Inquiry is the only way to save the BBC."

Another raged: "It's not been trusted for years. We all know its bias and woke leftist agenda like most news outlets. Defund the BBC in my opinion. If my Mrs didn't watch strictly I'd get rid of my licence. Not worth a penny that corrupt corporation."

A third echoed: "The BBC should go. Along with the archaic licence fee. If Donald Trump does succeed in suing them over their lies, they will just pass the cost onto the poor people."

Others disagreed, claiming that no organisation is completely impartial when it comes to reporting.

One said: "There is bias in every news organisation, be it intentional or not. @GMBis no different. Having no @BBCNews would be worse than a news and entertainment outlet controlled by news barons or an over zealous state."

Another agreed: "Everyone needs to wake up, when was the last time you saw a balanced panel on question time. The audience are hand picked and questions are pre screened so the hard questions never see the light of day. When have you ever seen a balanced debate about net zero on the BBC or ITV."