Public broadcaster caught faking burqa incident

THE HAGUE - Broadcaster BNN, a public Dutch group, deliberately misled viewers in a film clip about a woman in a burqa, the all-covering Muslim garment. The broadcaster failed to disclose that the clip shows a staged event where the activity of bystanders was manipulated.

A mini-film on 101tv, BNN's digital youth channel, shows a woman who immediately receives help from bystanders when she drops her bag of oranges. In the film clip, no such help appears to be given when she drops the oranges dressed in a burqa. The woman, a journalist, claimed she felt discriminated against when wearing the burqa.

Another Amsterdam broadcaster AT5 discovered the deception, however. AT5 cameras that recorded the BNN filming, reveal that many passers-by wanted to help the woman in the burqa. When they did so, the film crew intervened by calling out to them to keep on walking.