Voices on... Fatima Manji

“I COULD hardly believe my eyes. Was it appropriate for her to be on camera when there had been yet another shocking slaughter by a Muslim? ... Was it done to stick one in the eye of the ordinary viewer who looks at the hijab as a sign of the slavery of Muslim women by a male-dominated and clearly violent religion?”

Kelvin MacKenzie on Fatima Manji’s report on the Nice attack for Channel 4 News

“Kelvin MacKenzie has attempted to smear 1.6 billion Muslims in suggesting they are inherently violent. He has attempted to smear half of them further by suggesting they are helpless slaves. And he has attempted to smear me by suggesting I would sympathise with a terrorist ... I confess. I pi**ed on Kelvin MacKenzie’s apparent ambitions to force anyone who looks a little different off our screens, and I’ll keep doing it.”

Fatima Manji, Liverpool Echo

“Just as politicians should carry the responsibility for xenophobic campaigning that divides communities, journalists should be held accountable for ‘shock jock’ writing which perpetuates stereotypes ... and attempts to hold a whole community accountable for the actions of an individual. It’s this kind of ‘respectable’ racism which feeds the far right and legitimises the fallout we have sadly seen on our streets recently.”

Sayeeda Warsi, letter