BBC’s Asian identity error

THE BBC has agreed to pay £30,000 in libel damages to an Asian councillor in a case of misidentification which reflected “the notion that all people of colour look the same”.

BBC One London News had, on October 29, 2020, wrongly aired a video of Labour councillor Liza Begum during a report on Labour MP Apsana Begum, who was facing housing fraud allegations at the time.

In a letter of claim, Liza Begum’s lawyers said the error was “all the more concerning” because the video was linked to the launch of Labour’s Race and Faith Manifesto, which was aimed at overcoming “racist attitudes”.

Apsana Begum, who represents Poplar and Limehouse, has since been cleared of the fraud charges.

Liza Begum’s lawyer, Mark Henderson, said the misidentification caused her “distress” as it appeared to be another example of the BBC, and the media generally, “misidentifying BAME people, which fed into racist tropes”.

“She was particularly distressed that the confusion was of two women of colour appearing at a Race and Faith event, and that nobody in the BBC corrected it before the film of her was broadcast.”

The high court heard that the BBC’s “disinclination to make any public statement committing to processes to guard against misidentification of people from BAME communities has exacerbated the distress caused to Ms Begum by the defamatory imputation broadcast about her as a result of confusing her with another woman of the same race appearing at the same event”.

Speaking outside the court last Tuesday (14), Liza Begum urged the broadcaster to publicly apologise” for its error.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We are very sorry for the distress this has caused. It was a genuine mistake during a live programme that arose from archive footage being incorrectly labelled in our system. We apologised on air at the first opportunity and took immediate steps to correct our system. We recognise we must do better so have taken steps to avoid similar situations occurring.”