Pictures of Liza Begum at an event marking the start of Labor 2019’s race and faith manifesto were broadcast on BBC London News during an exchange on 29 October 2020, in which the BBC’s political correspondent in London said: “This is Apsana Begum… faces three categories of dishonesty. “ Although the correspondent said that Apsana Begum, who is also a British Bangladeshi, had strongly disputed the “false and malicious allegations” – she would later be acquitted – the BBC acknowledged that the meaning of the BBC One show was that suspect that [Liza Begum] was involved in housing fraud. “ A statement from the court read: . “She was very upset that the confusion was about two women of color who appeared at a race and faith event and that no one at the BBC corrected it before her film aired.” Begum first contacted the BBC on the night of the insulting show and an apology was broadcast on the following day. A defamation suit was then launched, also asking the BBC to publicly engage in new proceedings to prevent the misidentification of BAME individuals. The letter of claim, sent by Rahman Lowe’s lawyers, cited earlier BBC examples of confusing black Labor MPs Dawn Butler and Marsha de Cordova, and black basketball players LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. The BBC’s response to the letter of claim stated: “Here, the error occurred because the video in question incorrectly indicated that it was identifying your client, because she and Apsana Begum appeared at the same Labor event where the recording was recorded. This was what caused the initial confusion in the file. “It does not make the mistake ‘racist’ as your internet customer claimed.” The company also said that the letter of claim had “cite[d] examples of misidentifications by other media outlets that have nothing to do with race or background. “ Begum said on Tuesday: “It is true that the BBC has publicly apologized for its mistake, but we have repeatedly seen the BBC and other organizations make the same mistake as those of color. It is unacceptable for the media to make such mistakes and it reflects a deep-rooted perception that all people of color look the same. “The Supreme Court has heard how the BBC has refused to make a public commitment to take action to prevent this in the future. “I hope the BBC will now implement procedures to ensure that mistakes like this do not happen again and to improve diversity within the organization.” The court heard that the BBC said it could not report to Begum the procedures it would put in place to prevent misidentification because it would be inconsistent with its independence and accountability to its regulator. Begum was elected to the Westminster council in central London last year after being a Labor activist and community and social housing activist. A BBC spokesman said: “We are deeply saddened by the outrage. It was a genuine error during a live program that resulted from incorrectly marking the file on our system. We apologized on air at the first opportunity and took immediate action to fix our system. We recognize that we have to do better, which is why we have taken measures internally to avoid similar situations. “
