A controversial documentary, Beyond The Red Wall: The Persecution of Falun Gong, will be broadcast on The Lens this Tuesday after it was pulled earlier this month following a complaint from the Chinese embassy.

The switch came after the Chinese Embassy contacted the CBC, said CBC spokesman Jeff Keay. He said CBC officials learned that a Falun Gong publication had been running stories that touted the broadcaster as a supporter of the spritual movement.

The CBC requested certain edits to the film and Rowe complied.

The head of English television, Richard Stursberg, said the CBC made a mistake in approving a controversial documentary without proper vetting.

“We had made a mistake. We [initially] signed off on the documentary and said ‘That’s OK,” Mr. Stursberg told the National Post editorial board. “But when we looked further into it, and got our guys in Beijing to look at it and got our head of documentaries to really focus on it, and there were some questions raised about its accuracy or the ability to confirm all the claims that were being made.”

“The suggestion that somehow the CBC would spend its time bending to the pressure of the Chinese government really takes your breath away,” he said.

Nothing has been cut out of the documentary; between three and four per cent of the film was affected, including inserting content that supports claims that the self-immolation of Falun Gong protestors in Tiananmen Square was a hoax perpetrated by Chinese officials.

More at cbc.ca

The folks at The Lens are beaming with pride today, after a documentary commissioned by the Newsworld show was awarded a Peabody last night in New York.

The documentary, called Braindamadj’d: Take II, is about a former Montreal CBC television producer who was left for dead on a roadside in Egypt. The film documents his “gutsy, manic determination” to regain his previous life.

Paul Nadler (director) and Jonathan Finkelstein (producer) accepted the Peabody last night in front of more than 600 people.

The Lens senior producer Andrew Johnson told InsideCBC.com that “people were genuinely moved by the long clip of Paul that was shown. Jonathan spoke eloquently and briefly, then Paul bent the rules — only one speaker was allowed — by adding his two cents’ worth. After Paul added a final ‘thank-you’ to his mother, host Bob Costas made a joke about it. So Paul walked over, shook his hand and then took a grand bow to further applause. A moment of genuine spontaneity that charmed the audience.”

The Peabody is just one in a line line of awards the film has won, including the Grand Prix Japan Prize, two Geminis, and further honours in Russia, USA, New Zealand, Australia, Belgium. It airs tonight on CBC Newsworld at 10 p.m. ET and 1:00 a.m. ET.