On 28^th July 2018 the Daily Mail published a double-page spread about a French suburb “teeming” with “up to 300,000 illegal immigrants.” The piece, titled ‘POWDER KEG PARIS’, suffered an in-depth dismantling on Twitter by the former director of the Association Against Islamophobia in France, Marwan Muhammad.

Today, 6 months later, a correction was published. After Miqdaad Versi of the Muslim Council of Britain first complained the original article was removed online. 6 months later, the Daily Mail has finally been required to acknowledge 8 serious inaccuracies.

The correction, which is featured in small box whereas the original story was a double page spread, finishes with the words “we apologise for any confusion” - and fails to apologise for the repeated inaccuracies throughout the piece.

Hacked Off Director Kyle Taylor said,

“If you looked up the dictionary definition of when the punishment doesn’t fit the crime, you should find this appalling saga.

"After publishing a woefully inaccurate double page story that fomented racist, anti-migrant and Islamophobic sentiment, 6 months later, the Daily Mail issues a tiny correction. Should the punishment not fit the crime?

"And where is the regulator? It has taken 6 months to even get this paltry correction.

"This is simply not good enough. Inaccurate reporting like this harms vulnerable communities and undermines public faith in journalism that is defined by its search for truth. The UK public need fact-based journalism and they deserve a full explanation and clarification of this story from The Daily Mail. And they need reassurance that this kind of inaccurate reporting won’t continue unpunished.”

“As long as IPSO fail to adequately remedy gross inaccuracy of this kind they must share responsibility for the Islamophobic and racist agenda some newspapers have been able to advance. IPSO must stop turning a blind eye to these abusive attacks targeting Muslims, and get a grip on press discrimination”

ENDS

For press enquiries contact: sara@hackinginquiry.org and 07554 665 940

NOTES

Hacked Off is the campaign for a free and accountable press, and we work with the victims of press abuse to achieve those aims.