The newly appointed editor of the Daily Express offered an honest account about his own paper’s culpability in spreading hate and bigotry against Muslims.
That the British media is consistently Islamophobic is a well-researched and well-identified state of affairs. However, what is less expected is when a prominent newspaper editor is willing to make clear to a Parliamentary committee that this is precisely the case and that his own newspaper is culpable in spreading the hate, bigotry and intolerance that feeds into a perpetual cycle.
Gary Jones, the newly appointed editor of the Daily Express, told the Home Affairs Committee in Parliament that his newspaper had been creating an “Islamophobic sentiment” based on inaccurate and misguided reporting, with some stories that are “downright offensive”.
It is undoubtedly the case that being honest is important, and especially so in the context of a public hearing on the role of the press in determining the way news stories are perceived in which editors have a direct and specific responsibility to provide an honest and fair account.
And it is especially significant given the reality of Islamophobic reporting in the news media, in particular, is often a function of editors, senior editors and newspaper owners whose own political, cultural and ideological leanings, combined with an eye on readership numbers, are the ones, in the final analysis, which control the message and its content.
News media Islamophobia is a continuous cycle that needs to be broken, especially as news media exists as an opportunity to inform readers, rather than misinform them.
This media misreporting not only distort the debate on social cohesion, but fuels the polarisation that inevitably ensues. It is a woeful situation perpetuated by those in positions of power and influence. They do little to change the outcomes of suffering victims who are repeatedly left unaided and ultimately ignored.
Source: Middleeasteye
