Broadcasting errors at the BBC impact trust and confidence, chair says
Samir Shah says recent editorial failures have damaged public confidence and prompted changes to strengthen BBC accountability
Serious “broadcasting errors” by the BBC, including at Glastonbury and the Bafta film awards, “affect confidence in our journalism, trust in the BBC as a public institution, and perceptions about how effectively we are held to account”, the corporation’s chair said.
The BBC allowed a racial slur to be broadcast during its coverage of the Bafta film awards in February.
During the award ceremony, campaigner John Davidson, who has Tourette’s, could be heard shouting as Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for special visual effects.
The involuntary verbal tic was not edited out of the broadcast, which was on a two-hour delay.
Former director general Tim Davie, who announced his resignation in November 2025 and stepped down in April, subsequently said the BBC “profoundly regrets” the incident and added that it was “a genuine mistake”, which “should never have been broadcast”.
It came after a previous editing incident, which saw the BBC face criticism for continuing to livestream the performance of punk duo Bob Vylan as they led chants of “death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)” at last year’s Glastonbury Festival.
The BBC is also currently embroiled in a lawsuit with US President Donald Trump over an episode of BBC documentary series Panorama, broadcast in 2024.
Mr Trump launched a 10 billion dollar (£7.5 billion) lawsuit, claiming the programme had given the impression he encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol building in 2021 after he lost the election to Joe Biden.
Writing in the BBC’s annual report, chairman Samir Shah said: “The challenges faced by the BBC over the past year have been significant – from the Panorama edit of President Trump’s speech on 6 January 2021 and the breach of our Editorial Guidelines by Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, to the serious broadcasting errors at Glastonbury and the Bafta film awards.
“We know that people care deeply about these mistakes. They affect confidence in our journalism, trust in the BBC as a public institution, and perceptions about how effectively we are held to account.
The Board is acutely aware of the standards the BBC must set.
“I am confident that the changes we have now introduced will ensure that swift, appropriate and transparent action is taken to address editorial issues as effectively as possible, whenever they occur.”
An internal BBC review of the documentary Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, concluded it breached editorial guidelines on accuracy, by failing to disclose information about the child narrator’s father’s position within the Hamas-run government.
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