THE BBC has responded to questions from The National over its coverage of the Scottish Bafta Awards and the removal of calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Some winners and nominees used their appearance on stage to voice solidarity with Palestinians during the awards event in Glasgow on Sunday evening – but the BBC cut their words and a whole award category.
Director Eilidh Munro, who won the award for best short film and animation, told guests to “put pressure on institutions and our government” and to “use your voice as filmmakers and artists”, whilst her colleague Finlay Pretsell held up one of the posters which said: “I refuse to be silent. Ceasefire now.”
Upon realising her category and winners speech had been cut from the show on BBC iPlayer, she said it was “deeply concerning” and “somewhat surreal that an event which celebrates artists and filmmakers for using their voices” would be censored.
The speech was seen by viewers on the livestream produced by Bafta Scotland on Sunday and shared widely online.
All speeches from the the awards were published in full and remain available to view on Bafta Scotland’s Twitter/X feed. The full ceremony stream is also on Bafta’s YouTube channel.
On the original stream, the previous nominees are seen leaving the stage and Bowman states: “The ability to express an idea with precision, speed and economy is a rare gift so it’s time to honour this year’s finest work in short film and animation.
“To reveal the winner, an actress who embodies the tenacious title character of detective series Karen Pirie and an actor known for a discovery of witches. They are both celebrated the world over for the fantastic work on the phenomenon that is Outlander. Please raise the roof for Lauren Lyle and Steven Cree.”
Lyle and Cree take to the stage, read the nominees, and present the award to Munro and the other creators of The Long Winter.
On the BBC edit, the previous nominees are seen leaving the stage and Bowman states: “We’ve reached the award for factual series which often takes us into the world of crime.”
The award for factual series is then shown.
The BBC responded to The National’s request for comment and doubled down, defending its actions.
The broadcaster said: “The programme on iPlayer is a highlights show and therefore significantly shorter than the actual event itself. Cuts are made throughout in order to hit the programme’s run-time while representing as much of the event as possible.
“This means we do not broadcast all categories, and these were identified before broadcast. We do not know who has won any of the awards before the event and we have same information as everyone else before and during the ceremony. Some edits were made so the content was compliant with BBC editorial guidelines on impartiality.”
However, the BBC edit showed every other award won; Entertainment, Features, Audience Award, Writer for Film/Television, Television Scripted, Actress Film, Actor Film, Director Factual, Director Fiction, Actor Television, Actress Television, and Feature Film.
A later reference to Munro’s speech by actor Amir El-Masry has also been removed.
Masry, who presented the award for Actress in a film, said: “Before I start, I just want to echo the sentiments earlier in saying my heart goes out all women, men, and children who are suffering right now in Gaza. Let’s hope and pray that we see peace in the region and an imminent ceasefire.”
He had been pictured on the red carpet with "#ceasefirenow" written on his hand.
