US President Donald Trump has put the BBC “on notice” and threatened a $US1 billion lawsuit ($1.53 billion) over a documentary that he claims caused him “reputational harm”.

The British broadcaster is in damage control — and two media executives have quit — following criticism of its impartiality, including its editing of Trump’s speech ahead of the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

Trump sent a legal letter to the BBC, which was widely circulated on Tuesday (AEDT), setting out three demands:

• A full and fair retraction of the Panaroma documentary in question and “any and all other false, defamatory, disparaging, misleading, and inflammatory statements” about him;
• Apologising “immediately” for the statements;
• Appropriately compensating Trump for “harm caused”.

“The BBC is on notice,” the letter states, according to the BBC.

“PLEASE GOVERN YOURSELF ACCORDINGLY.”

It warns that if the demands are not met by November 14, Trump will be “left with no alternative” but to enforce his legal and equitable rights including filing legal action “for no less than $1,000,000,000 (One Billion Dollars) in damages”.

Earlier, Trump blasted “corrupt journalists” at the BBC amid allegations that it failed to maintain political neutrality in its reporting, including in its coverage of him, the Israel-Hamas war and transgender issues.

On Sunday (British time), director general Tim Davie and chief executive of news Deborah Turness resigned.

“This is entirely my decision, and I remain very thankful to the chair and board for their unswerving and unanimous support throughout my entire tenure, including during recent days,” Davie said.

“I have been reflecting on the very intense personal and professional demands of managing this role over many years in these febrile times, combined with the fact that I want to give a successor time to help shape the charter plans they will be delivering.

“Overall the BBC is delivering well but there have been some mistakes made and as director-general I have to take ultimate responsibility.”

Trump was quick to weigh in, writing on his Truth Social platform that: “The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught ‘doctoring’ my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th.

“Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt ‘Journalists’.  These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election. On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our No.1 Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!”

For days, Britain’s Daily Telegraph has reported on an internal document produced by a former BBC adviser on standards who had listed a raft of errors, including in the editing of a speech by Trump on January 6, 2021.

The document indicated the Panorama program had edited two parts of Trump’s speech together so that he appeared to directly encourage the US Capitol Hill riots of January 2021 – cutting out a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.

The BBC broadcast the program, titled “Trump: A Second Chance?”, the week before last year’s US election.

Turness said the controversy about the Trump documentary “has reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC – an institution that I love. As the CEO of BBC news and current affairs, the buck stops with me”.

In the BBC program, Trump was shown telling his supporters that “we’re going to walk down to the Capitol” and that they should “fight like hell”, a comment he made in a different part of his speech.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reacted to the twin resignations on X, posting a screen grab of an article headlined “Trump goes to war with ‘fake news’ BBC” beside another about Davie’s resignation, with the words “shot” and “chaser”.

“BBC News is dying because they are anti-Trump Fake News,” she wrote in a follow-up tweet.

Davie will remain at the BBC for some weeks until a replacement is found. A person familiar with the situation said his decision had stunned the BBC board.

Pressure on the broadcaster’s top executives has grown since The Daily Telegraph published parts of a dossier complied by Michael Prescott, who was hired to advise the BBC on standards and guidelines.

As well as the Trump edit, it criticised the BBC’s coverage of transgender issues and raised concerns of anti-Israel bias in the BBC’s Arabic service.

Widely respected around the world, the BBC has in recent years been accused of failing to maintain its commitment to impartial news, struggling to navigate the deeply polarised political and social environment.

The BBC faces greater scrutiny than other broadcasters because of its status as a British institution funded through an annual licence fee of £174.50 ($352) paid by all households with a television.

It also is bound by the terms of its charter to be impartial in its output.

-with AAP