BBC denies staging night runners story as KOT protest
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has refuted claims of staging characters in the production of a documentary about night runners among the Luo community.
A week after the documentary was aired, BBC’s social media page has been jammed with angry Kenyans accusing who are accusing the state broadcaster of manipulating the documentary.
Some Kenyans on Twitter claimed to have interviewed the characters in the documentary who confessed to have lied.
BBC responded by stating that the production of the documentary was based on the confession of the people featured.
“We’re getting quite a few comments saying this is scripted or staged. This investigation was made with voluntary, fully informed consent from members of the community featured. There was no dramatised footage in this documentary,” they said.
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We’re getting quite a few comments saying this is scripted or staged. This investigation was made with voluntary, fully informed consent from members of the community featured. There was no dramatised footage in this documentary.
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) May 8, 2019
They added that their editorial standards and commitment to accuracy mean that they would not feature dramatised footage without clear labelling.
“We stand by our journalism and will continue to highlight social issues that are relevant to our African audience.”
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The BBC’s editorial standards and commitment to accuracy mean that we would not feature dramatised footage without clear labelling. We stand by our journalism and will continue to highlight social issues that are relevant to our African audience.
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) May 8, 2019
“The Luo people of East Africa have spoken about ‘night runners’ for generations. But who are these night runners? BBC Africa Eye has caught them in action,” narrated the documentary.