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  Date / Time: 1/29/2009 10:14 AM UTC

  BBC accused of fakery over Barack Obama inauguration speech
  

  BBC accused of fakery over Barack Obama inauguration speech

  The BBC has been accused of fakery again after it admitted splicing together sections of Barack Obama's inauguration speech in the wrong order.

   

  By Aislinn Simpson
  Last Updated: 10:44AM GMT 28 Jan 2009

  

  President Barack Obama waves, following his inaugural address Photo: DEREK BLAIR

  A report, by Newsnight's science editor Susan Watts, examined the environmental agenda the new US president might pursue but cut together phrases from paragraphs that Obama said several minutes apart.

  The result generated complaints from Newsnight viewers and furious comments on the BBC website.

  It follows the "Crowngate" row in 2007 which saw the BBC forced to apologise for manipulating a trailer for a documentary about the Queen to make it appear as though she had stormed out of a photo session with photographer Annie Leibovitz.

  In her broadcast, Miss Watts said scientists calculated that Obama "has four years to fix climate change" and cited his assurance that he would "restore science to its rightful place" following George Bush's scepticism about global warming.

  At the start of the report, the following audio recording of Obama's inauguration speech was played: "We will restore science to its rightful place, roll back the spectre of a warming planet. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories."

  However, the phrase "roll back the spectre of a warming planet" came from a different paragraph several minutes earlier and was inserted into a passage replacing the words "wield technology's wonders to raise healthcare's quality and lower its cost".

  There followed a series of complaints on Miss Watts' Newsnight blog. Fjpcikett, who spotted the inaccuracy, wrote: "Performing 'dodgy dossier' antics worthy of Alistair Campbell on a speech heard by a third of the world is pretty stupid, as well as undermining the integrity of the BBC. A complete and very rapid apology is needed..."

  Peter Rippon, the Newsnight editor wrote on the blog, admitting the speech had been edited to reflect all the elements that referred to science.

  He said: "The aim was to give people an impression or montage of what Obama said about science in his inauguration speech. This was signposted to audiences with fades between each point. It in no way altered the meaning or misrepresented what the president was saying."

  But his comments did little to appease viewers, many of whom said they had formally complained.

  One wrote: "What absolute twaddle. You have misrepresented a historical speech to suit your own ends. This is totally unacceptable and hopefully a full public apology and explanation of what you did will be aired on Newsnight."

  Another wrote: "I've listened to the adjusted version of Obama's speech several times now, and I think what has been described as fades between each segment could equally be construed as natural pauses to draw breath.

  "I suspect that many people who are unaware of this controversy and who haven't read the full official transcript, will have gone away believing that this is the way he actually said what he said. Which means, basically, that they would have gone away believing a falsehood."

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