The BBC has agreed to pay £30,000 in damages to Liza Begum, a British Bangladeshi Labour councillor, after mistakenly identifying her as MP Apsana Begum in a news broadcast. The error occurred during a BBC London News segment on 29 October 2020, which showed footage of Liza Begum while the correspondent discussed Apsana Begum's housing fraud charges.
The BBC admitted that the broadcast implied there were reasonable grounds to suspect Liza Begum of housing fraud. A statement read in court noted that the misidentification caused particular distress as it seemed to reinforce racist tropes about people of colour being indistinguishable.
Liza Begum said the mistake reflected a 'deep-seated notion that all people of colour look the same'. She had contacted the BBC on the night of the broadcast, and an apology was aired the following day. She subsequently launched a defamation action, calling for the BBC to implement new processes to prevent such errors.
The BBC apologised, describing it as a genuine mistake caused by incorrectly labelled archive footage. A spokesperson said the BBC had taken immediate steps to correct the system and recognised the need to do better. However, the BBC declined to report to Begum on specific future processes, citing independence and accountability to its regulator.
