The BBC has been accused of yet another act of media manipulation, this time mistranslating remarks by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth during a briefing on the ongoing war with Iran.
By altering a key word in his speech, the broadcaster falsely implied Washington was targeting the Iranian populace rather than the regime.
? BBC Persian, which broadcasts to audiences inside Iran, mistranslated remarks by the US secretary of defence, telling viewers Washington was bringing death to the Iranian “people”Find out more ??https://t.co/W0ZfhgsBbXpic.twitter.com/YdZ6ulQmci
This incident echoes the deceptive editing tactics that prompted President Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC, where the network spliced his January 6 speech to misrepresent his words.
In a Pentagon press conference on March 2, Hegseth addressed Operation Epic Fury, the US-led military campaign against Iran.
Hegseth stated: “Turns out the regime that chanted ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’ was gifted death from America and death from Israel.”
However, BBC Persian, which reaches audiences inside Iran, rendered “regime” as “mardom”—meaning “people”—fundamentally changing the meaning to suggest the US was bringing death to ordinary Iranians.
Whoops! An easy mistake to make, right.
The mistranslation drew swift backlash on social media.
Reactions poured in, with users slamming the BBC’s track record. One commenter noted: “There’s a reason we call them Ayatollah BBC.”
Source: modernity
