More than a thousand viewers have lodged formal complaints with the BBC, accusing the broadcaster of displaying bias towards Donald Trump in its reporting on his territorial ambitions regarding Greenland.
The grievances centre on the corporation’s repeated use of the remark “acquire” when describing the US president’s stated willingness to deploy military force to take control of the Danish territory.
Left-wing commentator Owen Jones was one vocal critic of the editorial decision, branding the language choice “outrageous” and a “disgrace” after footage circulated on social media.
Mr Jones argued that the BBC would never employ such neutral terminology if another nation threatened similar action, suggesting the corporation would “correctly say” that Russia was “threatening to invade Latvia and annex it” in comparable circumstances.
He subsequently directed his followers to the BBC’s complaints portal.
The specific broadcast that sparked the backlash aired on BBC Breakfast on January 7, when presenter Sally Nugent delivered a summary of the day’s headlines.
“Using the American military to acquire Greenland. The White House says it is one of the options President Trump and his team are discussing,” Ms Nugent told viewers.
The clip quickly spread across X, formerly Twitter, where it drew fierce criticism from those who felt the phrasing downplayed what amounted to a threat of military aggression against a sovereign territory.
Jon Kay and Sally Nugent presented the BBC Breakfast coverage in question
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BBC
According to Deadline, the BBC summarised the 1,064 complaints it received as concerns that it was “inaccurate to say the USA might ‘acquire’ Greenland” and that the coverage demonstrated “bias in favour of President Trump.”
The corporation has been contacted by GB News for a comment.
Some left-leaning observers claim the BBC has adopted a more cautious approach to covering Trump following his decision to pursue legal action against the broadcaster.
The president filed suit in Florida seeking up to £7.5 billion in damages after a Panorama documentary was found to have misleadingly edited one of his speeches from January 2021.
Owen Jones was among those who lodged complaints
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X
Concerns about editorial interference surfaced previously in November, when Danish historian Rutger Bregman claimed his Reith Lectures had been “censored” after the BBC removed a passage describing Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.”
The broadcaster stated at the time that the sentence was excised “on legal advice” to ensure compliance with its editorial guidelines.
The fallout from the Panorama controversy prompted the resignations of Director-General Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness.
The BBC is now seeking to have Trump’s defamation case dismissed entirely, with court filings arguing that the Florida court lacks jurisdiction over the British broadcaster.
Nuuk, the capital of Greenland
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REUTERSLawyers for the corporation contend that the Panorama documentary was neither created nor broadcast in Florida, and dispute claims it was available to American audiences via streaming platforms.
Meanwhile, Trump has intensified his rhetoric on Greenland, declaring this week that “anything less” than American control would be “unacceptable.”
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has firmly rejected any suggestion the territory could fall under US governance, whilst Denmark’s leader Mette Frederiksen stated that “the US has no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom.”
