When the BBC was forced to apologize for faking footage.

The BBC was forced to apologize for broadcasting fake footage.

With the focus on fake news from the mainstream media right now, here's a reminder of the time when the BBC used fake footage of child labor in a Panorama report about Primark.

The BBC showed the fake footage in 2008, but it wasn't until three years later that a BBC Trust report admitted it was 'more likely than not' that a scene from the documentary which showed boys testing the stitching on Primark clothes, was 'not genuine'.

This was a statement from Alison Hastings, Chairman of the BBC Trust's editorial standards committee:

''The BBC's investigative journalism is rightly held in very high regard (sic), and for more than 50 years Panorama has made a very significant contribution to that. But great investigative journalism must be based on the highest standards of accuracy, and this program on Primark failed to meet those standards. While it's important to recognize that the program did find evidence elsewhere that Primark was contravening its own ethical guidelines, there were still serious failings in the making of the program. The Trust would like to apologize on behalf of the BBC to Primark and to the audience at home for this rare lapse in quality.''

The report concluded:

"Having carefully scrutinized all of the relevant evidence, the committee concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, it was more likely than not that the Bangalore footage was not authentic."

In response, a spokesman for Primark said:

"Millions of people have been deceived by Panorama. Viewers who watched the program, shoppers who were then fed the lie, sourcing experts who believed the lie, teachers and pupils who viewed the program in lessons, have all been badly let down."

They added:

"It is now for others to decide what steps should be taken at the BBC, but Primark hopes that no other individual or company is again subjected to such deception and ill-treatment."

As a result of their fake footage being exposed, the BBC admitted 'serious breaches in its editorial procedures', and they were forced to hand back an award they received at the Royal television Society awards. They were also forced to broadcast an apology to Primark, and to display an apology on the front page of the Panorama website for a week.

#MediaLiesAgain

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