This page includes apologies, significant corrections, statements and responses. It does not include routine corrections to news stories, minor on-air apologies and schedule changes.
Corrections and clarifications are published in the order that they were issued.
Newscast
BBC Two, 28 October 2022
In a discussion about governance in Northern Ireland with a correspondent, the on-screen caption gave her location as Stormont, Ireland.
Stormont is of course in Northern Ireland.
The iPlayer version has been corrected to reflect this.
22/12/2022
News Channel
21 October 2022
In exchanges about the prospect of Boris Johnson becoming the next leader of the Conservative Party we said Mr Johnson ‘broke his own Covid lock down laws and was partying the night before the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral’.
In fact, two parties were held by Downing Street staff at No 10 the night before Prince Philip’s funeral, but Boris Johnson was not at either event. He did receive a fixed penalty notice after attending a separate party at Downing Street in June 2020.
We also said ‘two hundred thousand people died as a result of him not locking down as fast as he should have done’.
One parliamentary committee has said the timing of the first lockdown ‘led to a higher initial death toll than would have resulted from a more emphatic early policy’, but it did not go so far as to say all deaths could have been averted.
A public inquiry to consider the Government’s handling of the pandemic is underway to consider a range of issues, including the UK’s preparedness and use of lockdowns.
22/12/2022
Is Labour Anti-Semitic?
Panorama, BBC One, 10 July 2019
The programme contained an interview with Izzy Lenga who had experienced antisemitism after she became a student activist. Viewers heard her discuss her experiences:
I’m Izzy Lenga, I joined the Labour Party in 2015… The antisemitic abuse I received was what I was subjected to every single day… Telling me Hitler was right, telling me Hitler did not go far enough…
In Labour Party meetings… we’ve seen people engage in Holocaust denial… and that’s terrifying for Jewish members… It absolutely breaks my heart to say but I do not think the Labour Party is a safe space for Jewish people any more.
If the programme were to be re-broadcast, we would include some additional comments (in bold below) from Ms Lenga’s original interview to give viewers further context around her experiences:
I’m Izzy Lenga, I joined the Labour Party in 2015… When I was a student… being quite a high profile Jewish woman student, I was subjected to quite a lot of like nasty vitriol and abuse… The antisemitic abuse I received… was what I was subjected to every single day… Predictably a lot of it came from the far right… neo-Nazi abuse… telling me Hitler was right, telling me Hitler did not go far enough and even more… What absolutely baffled me, was at the same time, I was receiving… very similar and almost often the exact same tropes and anti-Semitic abuse… from the far left.
In Labour Party meetings… we’ve seen people engage in Holocaust denial… and that’s terrifying for Jewish members… It absolutely breaks my heart to say but I do not think the Labour Party is a safe space for Jewish people any more.
14/12/2022
0800 News
BBC Radio 3, 8 December 2022
In an item about the death at 101 of the last surviving member of the Dambusters, Johnnie Johnson, we said he was a member of the ‘infamous RAF 617 Squadron’.
We meant to say the ‘famous 617 Squadron’. We apologise for the mistake.
14/12/2022
Six O’Clock News
BBC One, 7 September 2022
In a report on the government’s forthcoming energy price plan, a business owner from Bath stated that her new annual gas bill had risen from £14,000 to £233,000. In fact the increase was just over £100,000.
13/12/2022
10 O’Clock News / BBC Breakfast
BBC One, Sunday 6 November / Monday 7 November 2022
In coverage from the COP27 Climate Change summit in Egypt we referred to floods that “had left a third” of Pakistan under water. We should have attributed this claim to Pakistan’s climate minister. In fact experts estimate that the actual proportion of the country that was under water was around ten per cent.
8/12/2022
Today
BBC Radio 4, Wednesday 16 November 2022
In an item about the death of 2 year old Awaab Ishak, who lived in a mouldy flat in Greater Manchester, we suggested the landlord was Rochdale Borough Council.
In fact Rochdale Boroughwide Housing is the social housing provider and landlord in this case.
6/12/2022
Today
BBC Radio 4, 1 November 2022
In the newspaper review we referred to a story about a Gender Identity services in Scotland and said the Tavistock Clinic ‘is being shut down after a review by NHS England.’
To be clear it is the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at the Tavistock Clinic that is closing next Spring after a review commissioned by NHS England. Dr Hilary Cass who is conducting the review, said a single specialist provider is not a safe or viable option in view of concerns about a lack of peer review and the ability to respond to increasing demand. The GIDS contract is being brought to a managed close and new regional services are being set up.
30/11/2022
Today
BBC Radio 4, Friday 1 April
In a report about the forthcoming elections in Hungary we referred to 1956 as ‘the year the Russian tanks rolled in and suppressed Hungarian freedom for generations.’
We should have said they were Soviet tanks.
15/11/2022
Broadcasting House
BBC Radio 4, Tuesday 6 November
In a discussion on how real people are presented in dramas about recent events, we referred to Richard Taylor, the former Assistant Registrar of the University of Leicester, who is depicted in the film The Lost King and was also interviewed on the programme. We said “he is considering taking the team behind the lost King to court over how he was portrayed in the film” and he believed it included scenes in which he was shown to be mocking Richard III’s disability.
We should have also made clear the filmmakers’ position and they have provided us with a statement: “The opening scenes of The Lost King include a card that makes it clear that the film is the story told from Philippa Langley’s perspective. The film was carefully researched over many years and the filmmakers believe it is a fair and accurate dramatisation of the story: most importantly, they do not believe that independent viewers would take away any impression that Richard Taylor has been shown mocking Richard III’s disability.”
We are happy to make this clear and apologise for the oversight.
15/11/2022
Today
BBC Radio 4, Wednesday 9 November
In a news summary about the US midterms we said the Republicans are on track to take the House of Representatives ‘in a major blow to President Putin’.
The presenter misspoke and was in fact referring to President Biden.
11/11/2022
Kemi Badenoch, Profile
BBC Radio 4, Saturday 5 November
The programme said that when appointed Equalities Minister, Kemi Badenoch faced an angry backlash after she was accused of downplaying the extent of racism in the UK “after she published a government commissioned report which she said failed to find ‘conclusive evidence’ of institutional racism”.
To be clear, the report by The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities was not published by the Minister. It had been commissioned by the Government but was independent of it.
The programme also referred to an ITV News report that said Kemi Badenoch “has paused work on a promised ban on the use of conversion therapy, wanting to review existing plans.”
In fact the Cabinet Office says no policy decisions or requests have been made on the Conversion Therapy Bill since Kemi Badenoch has been appointed the Minister for Women and Equalities.
The programme also said that Kemi Badenoch stood as a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party this summer, “sellotaping ‘men’ and ‘ladies’ signs on the doors of gender neutral toilets at her launch venue”.
At the time this was widely reported but it emerged later that in fact the signs had been put up before the launch event took place.
We have edited the programme to take into account these clarifications.
10/11/2022
Today
BBC Radio 4, Monday 12 September
In a news item about anniversary cards sent by the monarch we reported that ‘among King Charles’ duties will be signing cards for people celebrating their one hundredth birthdays’.
The tradition dates back to 1917 and the congratulatory messages consist of a card containing a personalised message that comes in a special envelope. However it was wrong to suggest that the cards are all signed individually by the current monarch.
10/11/2022
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
BBC One, Sunday 9 October
When discussing levels of covid infection, the Cabinet Minister Nadim Zahawi said that “we've bought the Moderna which protects you against both Covid and flu, which is a good thing, so get that booster."
Mr Zahawi subsequently posted a correction on Twitter stating that he had misspoken: “What I meant to say was that Moderna is bivalent, which means it protects against both variants of Covid. You still need your flu vaccine too so please get jabbed if you're eligible.”
10/11/2022
The Papers
BBC News Channel, 23 October 2022
This programme did not meet the BBC’s editorial standards on impartiality.
Our editorial guidelines state that “presenters, reporters and correspondents are the public face and voice of the BBC – they can have a significant impact on perceptions of whether due impartiality has been achieved. Our audiences should not be able to tell from BBC output the personal opinions of our journalists or news and current affairs presenters on matters of public policy, political or industrial controversy, or on ‘controversial subjects’ in any other area.”
In this programme several remarks and reactions from the presenter caused a significant risk that the audience could believe opinions were being expressed on the Conservative leadership contest.
In addition, there was insufficient counter and challenge to some of the opinions expressed by guests on the programme.
Taken together, this meant that this edition of The Papers did not meet our editorial standards, as it gave the audience the opportunity to infer an editorial position on the part of the BBC. This does not accord with the BBC’s commitment to editorial impartiality and we have reminded staff of the Editorial Guidelines.
03/11/2022
BBC News Channel
24 October
The programme briefly showed a ‘word cloud’ graphic that included two offensive words (one of them with an asterisk). The word cloud had been produced by polling company Savanta/Comres that had asked the public to describe Rishi Sunak in one word.
We accept that a mistake was made allowing it to be broadcast and apologise if any offence was caused.
26/10/2022
News at Ten
BBC One, 31 August
The programme headlined a story about attacks on teenagers in Chorley, and used footage posted on social media.
In hindsight we accept it would have been preferable to have used a screen shot rather than the full footage in the headlines, as there was no opportunity to signal the nature of the content in advance.
19/10/2022
Channel Crisis: Can People Smugglers be Stopped?
Panorama, BBC One, 26 September
The programme states that Rwanda only has the capacity to hold a couple of hundred asylum seekers, which is the current capacity of the site so far identified.
We would like to make clear that the Rwandan government has said it had additional accommodation sites available and that it has the capacity to take in as many migrants as required.
30/9/2022
Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru
11 Awst 2022
Ar 11 Awst, fe wnaethom ddarlledu a chyhoeddi ar ein gwasanaethau nifer o honiadau ynglŷn â’r Eisteddfod Genedlaethol a’i Phrif Weithredwr, a’r ymwneud â’r gymuned leol yn Nhregaron.
Ar ôl adolygu ein hallbwn, rydym yn cydnabod na wnaeth ein hallbwn fodloni ein safonau golygyddol arferol o ran cywirdeb, didueddrwydd a thegwch.
Yn benodol, hoffem wneud y canlynol yn glir:
- Bod pump o dirfeddianwyr, ac nid un fel y dywedwyd yn wreiddiol, wedi rhoi tir ar les i’r Eisteddfod.
- Fe wnaethom ddweud, yn ffeithiol anghywir, bod cerrig wedi’u cludo o Borthmadog i’r Eisteddfod, lle, mewn gwirionedd, roedden nhw wedi dod o Ystrad Meurig gerllaw.
- Yn groes i'r hyn a awgrymwyd, roedd nifer o gwmnïau lleol wedi darparu gwasanaethau yn uniongyrchol ar faes yr Eisteddfod.
- Y dylid bod wedi rhoi mwy o amser a manylion i’r Eisteddfod allu cynnig hawl i ymateb gwybodus.
- Y dylem fod wedi cymryd gofal rhesymol i fodloni ein hunain o’r holl ffeithiau arwyddocaol a bod yr hyn a gafodd ei hepgor wedi bod yn annheg i Brif Weithredwr yr Eisteddfod ac i’r Eisteddfod fel sefydliad.
- Y dylem fod wedi cydnabod yn gyhoeddus y cywiriadau i fersiynau cynharach o’r stori hon.
Rydym yn cydnabod y pwyntiau hyn ac yn ymddiheuro am y methiannau hyn yn ein safonau golygyddol ac mae’r BBC wedi tynnu ei hadroddiadau yn ôl.
National Eisteddfod of Wales
11 August 2022
On 11 August, we broadcast and published on our services a number of allegations regarding the National Eisteddfod and its Chief Executive and the interaction with the local community in Tregaron.
Having reviewed our output, we recognise that our output did not meet our usual editorial standards on accuracy, impartiality and fairness.
In particular, we wish to make the following clear:
- That five landowners, not one as originally stated, had leased land to the Eisteddfod.
- We inaccurately said that stones had been transported from Porthmadog to the Eisteddfod whereas, in fact, they had come from Ystrad Meurig nearby
- That contrary to what was suggested, a number of local companies had provided services directly on the Eisteddfod field.
- That the Eisteddfod should have been given more detail and time to have provided an informed right-of-reply.
- That we should have taken reasonable care to satisfy ourselves of all material facts and that these omissions were unfair to the Eisteddfod’s Chief Executive and to the Eisteddfod as an organisation.
- That we should have publicly acknowledged corrections to earlier versions of this story
We acknowledge these points and apologise for these lapses in our editorial standards and the BBC has removed its reporting.
27/09/2022
Ten o’clock News
BBC One, 19 September
In a report from Northern Ireland we featured Newry and heard how some nationalists were responding to the death of the Queen. Our coverage included shots of a busker singing in the city centre.
We would like to make clear that the busker concerned was not working on the day the Queen was laid to rest and that this material had been pre filmed several days earlier.
27/09/2022
Today
BBC Radio 4, Wednesday 6 April 2022
In an item about fracking we said the UK’s decision to stop all exploration in 2019 was based in part on fears about earthquakes being caused in areas around fracking sites, ‘fears that were debunked at the time by scientists’.
In fact the overall scientific picture is unclear. The Government placed a moratorium on fracking in 2019 after the Oil and Gas Authority reported that the causes of seismicity are heavily reliant on local geology. A ministerial statement at the time said ‘the limitations of current scientific evidence mean it is difficult to predict the probability and maximum magnitude of any seismic events, either in the Fylde or in other locations’.
20/09/2022
Six O’Clock News, Ten O’Clock News
BBC One, Wednesday 31 August
We reported from Chorley on parents who say the police are failing to respond when their children have been assaulted.
One parent said she called 999 and no one appeared for 48 hours. Another mother said it took two weeks for an officer to appear after she rang the police. A third said she took her daughter to the police station straight after she was assaulted and was told no police officer was available at the time to do anything.
The report said Lancashire Police says it’s supported all the mothers involved, arrested the offenders and dealt with them in line with national guidelines and that it is proud of officers’ approach to policing in Chorley.
However we should also have made clear that the force says it always answers 999 calls and when there is no ongoing risk or threat or crime in action it will arrange to visit people at a time convenient to them so it can investigate and deliver the best outcomes.
We apologise for the omission and are happy to make this clear.
Lancashire Police also says it disputes some of the facts given in the cases featured.
15/09/2022
HARDtalk
News Channel, BBC World, 10 and 15 August; BBC World Service 15 August 2022
In an interview with the transgender activist and writer Shon Faye, the presenter said: “There's quite a lot of data now on this, self-harm is a problem for people who are in this situation and suicide is also more common among trans young people than among the rest of the population”.
In fact the overall position is unclear as there is limited data on suicides among young trans people.
On the point made by Shon Faye that puberty blockers are reversible, the NHS says little is known about their long term side effects in children with gender dysphoria and that although the Gender and Identity Service (GIDS) advises this is a physically reversible treatment if stopped, it is not known what the psychological effects may be.
13/09/2022
Today
BBC Radio 4, Wednesday 31 August 2022
In a report from Teesside we highlighted how fishermen are asking for tests to see if the chemical pyridine is the reason why dead shellfish have been washed up onshore. An official investigation by DEFRA suggests an algae bloom is to blame.
The Mayor of Tees Valley, Ben Houchen explained that different theories about the die off were being put forward and it was important not to delay a new offshore wind development.
It would have been better if the report had contained more context about Mr Houchen’s overall position, including his call for more government support to the local fishing community and his acceptance of DEFRA’s findings. In his full interview Mr Houchen also highlighted how the licence for the new development had only been awarded after a very stringent set of tests, and that the situation would continue to be monitored. We are happy to make this clear.
08/09/2022
BBC North West Tonight
25 April 2019
On 25 April 2019 we reported on the conviction of Astrit Kapaj (known as the Wimbledon Prowler) for burglary. The report featured Timperley Fish Bar in Altrincham which at the time was owned and run by Astrit Kapaj’s brother, Bilal Kapaj.
We are happy to confirm that it was never the intention of the BBC to suggest that Bilal Kapaj was the Wimbledon Prowler. Bilal Kapaj has told the BBC that Astrit Kapaj never worked at or owned the Timperley Fish Bar. The BBC apologises to Bilal Kapaj for any misunderstanding which arose as a result of its reports and any distress caused as a result.
01/09/2022
Today
BBC Radio 4, 14 June 2022
We said the “The leaders of the Church of England have written to the Times to describe the plan to send failed asylum seekers to Rwanda as an immoral policy that shames Britain…”
The phrase ‘failed asylum seekers' was not used by the Church and is in any case inaccurate.
We should have said ‘asylum applicants’ as cases are only considered after people are sent to Rwanda.
A programme tweet using the same phrase has been deleted.
15/08/2022
File On 4: Ukraine, the Disinformation War
BBC Radio 4, 31 May 2022
The programme referred to events in Bucha and a thread on Twitter by Dr Justin Schlosberg, a Reader in Journalism and Media at Birkbeck, University of London.
File On 4 explained that the Kremlin has denied that there was a massacre in Bucha and is insisting images of dead bodies in the streets were made after Russian troops withdrew from the city. A video by the Mayor of Bucha celebrating the Russian departure from Bucha was tweeted by a RT (Russia Today) journalist, who noted that the Mayor had said ‘not a word about “massacre”’, and then claimed civilians had probably been killed by the Ukrainian defenders, saying: ‘Judging by this, Kiev is amping up its’ game of fakes to get more ammo and to get Nato involved on the ground in the open.’
Dr Schlosberg tweeted: ‘So lets talk about Bucha.. Russian troops left on 30th March. No mention of any 'massacre' or bodies lining the streets for 4 days...’
He linked to the RT post and commented: ‘No mention in a video uploaded by Bucha's mayor on 31st March in which he celebrates liberation..’
File On 4 said: ‘Dr Schlosberg highlighted this in his tweet. How could the Mayor have failed to refer to such an atrocity – surely something’s up?’
We wish to make clear that this last sentence was not a direct quote from Dr Schlosberg but the presenter’s summary of the sentiments he expressed in his Tweets. We are sorry this was not clearer.
Dr Schlosberg says the idea that he was pushing a particular Kremlin narrative with his thread is absurd; that he went on Twitter because it wasn’t clear what was going on in Bucha and that it was right to apply due caution and not to draw foregone conclusions about what happened there until there had been an authoritative investigation by the UN.
We agree that it would have been helpful to the audience to have included these specific points to aid their understanding of Dr Schlosberg’s reasons for posting in the way that he did. We are sorry that we did not.
22/06/2022
Update
The programme also referenced a parliamentary question from Robert Halfon, MP, and some listeners might have concluded that Dr Schlosberg was one of the academics he specifically named for “spreading misinformation” as he put it.
We wish to make it clear that he was not.
05/08/2022
North West Tonight
BBC One, 20 July 2022
We reported on councillors in Liverpool voting on whether to scrap the position of elected mayor in the city. By mistake we showed pictures of the former Lord Mayor instead of the elected mayor. We are sorry for this error.
21/07/2022
Today
BBC Radio 4, 4 July 2022
In a question to Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Baroness Jenny Chapman, we said the Office for Budget Responsibility “has retained its prediction that Brexit is costing us £100billion a year in lost output, 4% of GDP.” In fact, this is its estimate of the eventual cost, not the current one.
20/07/2022
Six O’Clock News
BBC Radio 4, 23 March 2022
We said the Coronavirus Act ‘is the legal mechanism under which lockdown measures have been imposed’.
The Coronavirus Act 2020 contains emergency powers to enable public bodies to respond to the Covid 19 pandemic. However the pre existing Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 was used to introduce many lockdown restrictions, including the requirement to stay at home and shops to close.
19/07/2022
BBC News Channel, 15 July 2022
We introduced an item by saying "let’s take you live to Bethlehem now, in Israel.”
Bethlehem is in fact in the occupied West Bank.
18/07/2022
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo
BBC Somali website, 14 July 2022
We published a report on former President Farmajo which stated that he had paid a secret visit to Jerusalem in February 2020 and met with the then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
This article did not meet the BBC’s editorial standards and we have removed it from our website and social media accounts.
We produced the story based on a single source, and did not conduct our own investigations to establish whether the facts were correct. We did not contact former President Farmajo to give him a right of reply to the allegations in the article.
We apologise for these failures and for any distress this may have caused him.
18/07/2022
BBC News Channel, 18 June 2022
In a report about a Supreme Court ruling on the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 we said that ‘the tragedy was the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, killing more than 18,000 people in Japan.’
We should have made it clearer that the 18,000 people died as a result of the earthquake and the tsunami that hit the north eastern coast of the island of Honshu, disabling the Fukushima nuclear plant.
While many people left their homes as a preventative measure, the World Health Organisation says there were no acute radiation injuries or deaths among the workers or the public due to exposure to radiation resulting from the Fukushima accident. The World Nuclear Association says official figures show that there were just over 2000 disaster-related deaths among evacuees from Fukushima prefecture.
18/07/2022
BBC News at Ten
BBC One & BBC News Channel, 14 July 2022
In a report on President Biden’s visit to the Middle East, we briefly referred to the shooting of journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh and said she had been “killed by Israeli troops.”
A UN report published last month pointed to the shots that killed her as coming from the Israeli Security Forces. A US investigation confirmed this was likely to be the case but could not prove it forensically because the bullet was too damaged.
Although this was a general report rather than an examination of the circumstances of her death, we went further than the way their conclusions were phrased.
Israel has strongly denied the journalist was deliberately targeted and says only a forensic examination of the bullet can prove who killed her.
18/07/2022
Queen's Platinum Jubilee music released by British-Israeli composer
BBC News website, 5 February 2022
This article has been removed after doubts were raised about Loretta Kay-Feld’s claim that she was specially commissioned by a member of the Royal Family to produce music for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. The accompanying video article has also been removed.
12/07/2022
BBC London
29 June 2022
During an update on the story of Archie Battersbee - the 12 year old from Southend - whose parents are challenging a decision to end life support treatment our report incorrectly suggested that Archie had been at home by himself when he was found unconscious. We would like to make it clear this was not the case and apologise to Archie’s family for this error.
06/07/2022
BBC Context
29 June 2022
In our story about Poland’s role within Nato, the map wrongly named Poland over the territory of Belarus. We are sorry for the error.
05/07/2022
PM
BBC Radio 4, 22 March 2022
After Shell’s decision to reconsider its decision on the Cambo oil field, we discussed whether energy security and the net zero agenda can coexist, and the practical steps that could be taken to alleviate rapidly rising energy prices.
Both contributors to the discussion argued against Shell’s involvement in the oil field.
We accept should have done more to provide a wider range of views or signal their existence in order to ensure the item met our standard of due impartiality.
15/06/2022
The sophisticated tech predicting if an advert will work
BBC News website, 2 March 2022
This article has been removed for editorial reasons.
08/06/2022
BBC News
BBC One, 4 June 2022, 10.30pm
We reported that the acclaimed British sculptor Sir Antony Gormley is to become a German citizen. We said he was giving up his British passport because of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union and that he had described the move as embarrassing and had plans for new sculptures that would reflect his view.
In fact Sir Antony Gormley is not giving up his British nationality and has asked us to make clear the circumstances behind his application for a German passport.
Sir Antony holds dual nationality as a result of having a German mother and has decided to apply for a German passport, which he will hold alongside his British one.
In a statement he says he remains a proud British citizen and is grateful for the extraordinary support he has received from so many people and institutions across the UK but he is also keen to retain his links with and continue to show his work in Europe.
We apologise for the mistake.
07/06/2022
BBC News
‘We’re being pressured into sex by some trans women’, 26 October 2021
The Head of the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) has made a ruling on the article and the headline has now been changed to ‘The lesbians who feel pressured to have sex and relationships with trans women’ in light of the finding.
The ECU also ruled that the original article did not go far enough to make clear to readers a survey’s “lack of statistical validity." The article has been amended to reflect this.
You can find the ECU’s ruling here: http://unitedkingdom.bahce.site/contact/ecu/newsonlineoctober2021
The BBC also issued a statement about the article: http://unitedkingdom.bahce.site/mediacentre/statements/ecu-ruling-bbc-online-article
31/05/2022
Today
BBC Radio 4, 26 May 2022
We said a government cleaner who worked in Downing Street and had been surrounded by people breaking the rules had contracted Covid and died.
In fact, he worked at the Ministry of Justice.
His family was reported to have been told by medical staff that he had died from coronavirus but the post-mortem recorded hypertensive heart disease as the official cause of death.
We are sorry for the mistake.
26/05/2022
The Climate Question: What is Net Zero?
BBC World Service, 25 April 2022
The programme included contributions from Dr Benny Peisner who was introduced as the Director of the Global Warming Policy Forum.
We should have also said that the Forum questions climate change science and the cost of policies to tackle it.
23/05/2022
Newsnight
BBC Two, 23 February 2022
In a report about the crisis in Ukraine, the programme displayed a map of Europe to show which countries have Nato membership in the region and which do not.
The map incorrectly labelled the Baltic States of Lithuania and Latvia as Latvia and Estonia respectively. We apologise for the mistake.
12/05/2022
Today, Yesterday In Parliament
BBC Radio 4, 28 April 2022
We reported that the Green MP Caroline Lucas had said 56 members of the Commons were being investigated for sexual misconduct, including 3 members of the Cabinet, when she challenged Boris Johnson during Prime Minister’s Questions.
We wish to make clear that Ms Lucas spoke later in the Commons to clarify her comments:
“At Prime Minister’s questions today, I said that 56 MPs were “under investigation” over allegations of sexual misconduct. I should like to correct the record. I realise now that I should have said that according to a report in The Sunday Times 56 MPs are facing claims. There is a difference between a complaint being investigated and an investigation of the MP in question. I wanted to make that distinction clear.”
10/05/2022
Panorama, Wild Weather
BBC One, 3 November 2021
We reported that ‘the world is getting warmer and our weather is getting more unpredictable and dangerous,’ and that ‘the death toll is rising around the world and the forecast is that worse is to come.’
This was a reference to the cumulative death toll from weather-related events, not the annualised rate. In retrospect it would have been better to have said ‘the overall death toll is rising around the world and the forecast of extreme weather events is that worse is to come.’
In August 2021, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) published a report into deaths from weather related disasters over the past fifty years which showed an historical decline in the annual rate of deaths related to weather events. It highlighted early warning and other interventions which have been significant factors in reducing the overall death rates from weather events.
28/03/2022
Update
The programme also said that the southern part of Madagascar is ‘on the brink of the world’s first climate-induced famine’.
We should have made it clear we were reflecting the language used by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) in its assessment of conditions in Madagascar.
Other evidence suggests there were additional factors which made a significant contribution to the situation on the island.
28/04/2022
BBC News
Online, 26 March 2022
We have amended an article on the BBC News online site in Bristol about endometriosis to make it clearer to the audience how the condition affects women. The article was updated to remove an inaccuracy where we described symptoms as causes. Also, specifically, the word 'people' was replaced with the word 'women', and we removed the phrase "who are assigned female at birth".
27/03/2022
The Nine
BBC Scotland, 23 March 2022
The programme stated that Alex Salmond, as First Minister, made the decision to award Ferguson Marine Engineering Limited a contract to build two new ferries. This was inaccurate. The contract was awarded in the autumn of 2015, by which time Mr Salmond had been replaced as First Minister by Nicola Sturgeon. We apologise for the error.
25/03/2022
BBC Breakfast
BBC One, 25 February 2022
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine we reported on the journey a Scottish man was making from Kyiv to Poland. The report started with a shot of military planes in formation overhead. This was old footage filmed in 2020 of preparations for a military parade in Moscow and should not have been used. We apologise for the mistake.
15/03/2022
BBC Scotland
Twitter, 4 March 2022
On Friday 4 March, our Chief Sports Writer posted a tweet, relating to Celtic Football Club’s statement on the death of Shane Warne, that did not meet our editorial standards. The tweet has been removed and we have apologised to the club for this lapse.
11/03/2022
Today
BBC Radio 4, 23 February 2022
In an interview about the Government’s announcement of sanctions on Russia, the Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy said there had been ‘too much connection‘ between Russian oligarchs and donations to the Conservative party and it should return £2m.
Pressed on whether he thought the British Government had ‘stayed its hand’ in response to Russian aggression towards Ukraine ‘because of the money that the Conservative party gets from oligarchs,’ Mr Lammy said ‘this is the allegation of our Intelligence Committee and the Russia report.’
The Conservative party has asked us to point out that the committee’s report (of July 2020) did not refer to it by name.
The report said: “Several members of the Russian elite who are closely linked to Putin are identified as being involved with charitable and/or political organisations in the UK, having donated to political parties, with a public profile which positions them to assist Russian influence operations.”
3/03/2022
BBC News
Various outlets, 17 December 2021
In coverage of the North Shropshire by-election result, BBC News reported that the Conservative Party had held the seat for nearly 200 years.
In fact although the Conservative Party had won the seat at every UK general election for nearly 200 years, it was held by a Liberal MP, Allan Heywood Bright, under its old name of Oswestry from 1904-1906 following a by-election.
We acknowledge this error and have amended several articles on the BBC News website to now explain that the Conservative Party had held the seat for 115 years. We have also deleted a tweet from BBC News which included the error.
17/02/2022
This note was updated on 22/02/2022 to make reference to the tweet.
BBC Cymru Fyw
10 February 2022
In a BBC Cymru Fyw report featuring an individual who questioned some of the risks attached to COVID-19 and the efficacy of some public health interventions, the original article did not contain information about the risks of COVID-19 nor the benefits of wearing a masks and vaccination. The article was amended to reflect these after publication based on information from public health organisations. A footnote highlighting the edit is included in the article.
Mewn adroddiad ar BBC Cymru Fyw am unigolyn sy’n cwestiynu rhai o’r risgiau yn ymwneud â COVID-19 ac effeithlonrwydd peth o’r ymyraethau iechyd cyhoeddus, nid oedd yr erthygl wreiddiol yn cynnwys gwybodaeth am risgiau COVID-19 na manteision gwisgo masg a brechu. Cafodd yr erthygl ei diweddaru i gynnwys gwybodaeth ffeithiol ynglŷn â’r risgiau yn ogystal â manteision gwisgo mwgwd a brechu yn seiliedig ar wybodaeth gan sefydliadau iechyd cyhoeddus. Mae nodyn ar waelod yr erthygl yn cydnabod ei bod wedi ei diweddaru a'r rheswm dros wneud hynny.
16/02/2022
BBC One Midlands
9 February 2022
A film profiling the work of cryptocurrency businessman Hanad Hassan was not transmitted for editorial reasons. A web article was removed for the same issues. Both items will be reviewed.
15/02/2022
BBC One East
26 January 2022
The We Are England programme focused on a school and its work on student wellbeing. It is no longer available to view online as the episode did not include relevant information and context about the school featured. We have also removed a related online article.
14/02/2022
Today
BBC Radio 4, 1 December 2021
In an item about Chinese ‘debt trap’ diplomacy we interviewed Professor Deborah Brautigan, who explained that this ‘is the idea that China is deliberately luring countries into borrowing more money than they can afford with the goal of using that debt for strategic leverage, to seize assets of some kind or otherwise push the country to do China’s bidding.’ She went on to give an example of the Sri Lankan port of Hambantota, saying it was used by the Trump administration to promote this theory.
However Professor Brautigan’s further point, that these ideas have little basis in fact, was edited out of the broadcast interview. In fact Professor Brautigan’s research shows that Chinese banks are willing to restructure the terms of existing loans and have never actually seized an asset from any country, much less the port of Hambantota.
We apologise for the error.
7/02/2022
Newsnight
BBC Two, 13 July 2021
A graphic attributed the following statement to the Government Race and Disparities Report 2021:
Not a single police force in England and Wales registered an arrest rate of less than 20 for every 1000 black people.
By contrast not a single police force in England and Wales registered an arrest rate of more than 20 for every 1000 white people
We should have made it clear that this conclusion had been carried by The Independent newspaper the previous year in a wider survey of social and economic data on disparities between different ethnicities in the UK and reflected statistics from a different Government website which was now out of date.
The most recent figures show there are four police forces with an arrest rate of below 20 for every 1000 black people.
4/02/2022
BBC London News
2 December 2021
On 2 December 2021 BBC London's early evening news reported a story about an attack on a bus of students celebrating the Jewish festival of Chanukah in Oxford Street, London.
During the course of the two-way interview BBC London reported that it was possible to hear "some racial slurs about Muslim people" coming from the bus. We would like to make it clear that shortly after the transmission it was believed only one such slur could be heard. In the days following that TV report, and the online article which accompanied it, the claim about a slur about Muslims coming from the bus has been disputed. The Executive Complaints Unit have investigated this issue and their findings are here.
26/01/2022
Reporting Scotland
BBC One Scotland, 14 January 2022
A report about the impact of the latest stage of the pandemic on NHS staff absences said that more than 50,000 staff had been absent over the week. That figure is the number of staff days lost – the number of actual staff absent was 7174. We corrected this statistic for later reports.
25/01/2022
The Andrew Marr Show
BBC One, 28 March 2021
When referring to newspaper coverage of what we called a ‘highly misogynistic culture’ in famous private schools in the wake of the Everyone’s Invited campaign, we said the situation in state schools was ‘even worse’. In fact the Observer’s report quoted a senior police officer who said abuse in schools was a national issue and that its occurrence was ‘more widespread than private schools.’
17/01/22
Harry, Meghan and the Media
BBC Sounds Podcast
We stated that the Duchess of Sussex apologised for misleading the court in her case against Associated Newspaper Group. The Duchess of Sussex has asked us to clarify that she apologised to the court for not remembering email exchanges with her former communications secretary, Jason Knauf, in her evidence, and said that she had no intention to mislead the court.
14/01/22
BBC Breakfast
BBC One, 1 October 2021
In an item about energy saving measures around the home we said ‘turning off the telly either at the button or at the wall could save you £35 a year’.
In fact the Energy Saving Trust says £35 is the average amount spent by UK households every year powering all appliances that are left on standby.
12/01/2022