Islamophobia is an issue in the British press

I’ve personally complained and won corrections from national papers on more than 40 stories related to Islam and Muslims

Last week, the Britain’s home affairs select committee’s inquiry into hate crime turned to Islamophobia and the press. Many greeted with surprise the idea expressed by one witness: That anti-Muslim sentiment wasn’t much of an issue in the mainstream media. That was the day before the Times issued a correction for the third in a series of front-page stories focused on a fostering case in Tower Hamlets, east London, last year. The first was headlined ‘Christian child forced into Muslim foster care’. The coverage had been called “disgracefully dishonest” by Sir Martin Narey, head of the government inquiry into foster care provision; attacked by the biggest non-government providers of foster care; and widely derided as bigoted against Muslims.

At least the new editor-in-chief of the Daily Express recognised that many of the stories published in the paper prior to his arrival had contributed to an “Islamophobic sentiment” in the media, and that the Express’s front pages had sometimes been “downright offensive”. This attitude is to be welcomed. And the evidence to support his argument that a broader anti-Muslim attitude does exist is overwhelming. In the past year-and-ahalf, more than 40 stories on issues related to Islam and Muslims have been corrected in mainstream national newspapers following complaints I made. If inaccuracies of a similar type on the same subject every one or two weeks do not demonstrate that there is a serious issue here, it is unclear what would.

Why does this happen though? Let us not kid ourselves. Stories that play on the public’s fears and feed their prejudices are popular, especially at a time when more than half of British people see Islam as a threat to western liberal democracy. These sentiments might well be shared by journalists at the newspapers concerned.

Of course, it is almost impossible to know for sure the motivations behind the coverage. Yet, it is hard to explain away front-page news stories such as the Sun’s ‘One in five Brit Muslims’ sympathy for jihadis’ (ruled “significantly misleading” by the press regulator Ipso); the Times’ ‘Muslims ‘silent on terror’ (a view not shared by senior counter-terrorism and police officers); or the Daily Mail’s ‘MPs’ anger as Christian girl forced into Muslim foster care’, a story accompanied on Mail Online by a doctored photo.

How are we supposed to understand the fake “Islamic plot” to take over schools in Birmingham in many papers; and the Telegraph and the Sun falsely suggesting that two Muslims were responsible for a “Trojan horse” plot in Oldham?

In opinion pieces, the problems are even more apparent. The Sun’s Trevor Kavanagh ended one column with the ominous question: ‘What will we do about the Muslim problem then?’

These examples are the tip of the iceberg. Their frequency alone gives an indication of the scale of the problem.

This is not a question of freedom of speech. It is about the choices of editors to tolerate, if not encourage, bigotry in British newspapers. The National Union of Journalists understands the issue and demanded an inquiry into press Islamophobia by Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) eight months ago. Done thoroughly, this could have an impact similar to the Macpherson report, which had labelled the police “institutionally racist” and encouraged a sea change in attitudes.

So, what is Ipso waiting for? ■ Miqdaad Versi is assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain.