Sun Cowers Behind PR Shill

The deliberate attempt by the Murdoch Sun to demonise Britain’s Muslim population by pretending that “one in five” of them supported ISIS, or whatever they’re called this week, has still not resulted in any kind of retraction or apology, despite the widespread revulsion at the story - and the revelation that pollsters Survation have distanced themselves from the exercise. Nor have their hacks been prepared to face the rest of the media.

Guilt by poll interpretation not universally popular at the Sun

So the perpetrators - editor Tony Gallagher, non-bullying political editor Tom Newton Dunn, who wrote up the story, and managing editor Stig Abell - have all kept schtum. Instead, when Channel 4 News featured a discussion on the affair yesterday evening, the paper was represented by former Sunday Times hack Eben Black, now alleged to be in PR, whose performance typified the very worst in journalism.

Perched awkwardly on his chair, with his over-nourished frame testing the limitations of an ill-fitting suit, Black oozed calm, assurance, and total bullshit. The Sun’s editorial line was effortlessly replayed: everyone would have known what “fighters in Syria” meant. We should take this as read. Naz Shah, newly elected MP for Bradford West where she disposed of George Galloway, was clearly aghast at the idea.

It got worse: it was nothing serious, Black told, and nothing more than an effort to sell a few more newspapers. We should not find this so surprising. Well, yes it is partly an exercise in flogging more copies, but doing so by indulging in borderline racial and religious incitement is not something to get relaxed about. The Sun has effectively told its readers that hundreds of thousands of terrorist sympathisers are out there.

In doing so - and, as Ms Shah pointed out, not putting alongside their poll an earlier exercise showing that a double-figure percentage of non-Muslims also had a degree of sympathy with those going to join “fighters in Syria” - the Sun has very deliberately constructed a false and poisonous narrative with the apparent intention of creating its own news, not unlike Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse).

Worse still is that not only can the Sun cower behind the effortless dishonesty of Eben Black, but also that there will be no formal censure, let alone penalty, for this disgraceful behaviour. Although, as Brian Cathcart has pointed out, the front page splash was a flagrant breach of the Editor’s Code of Practice - “The press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information”, there will be no fine, no reprimand.

Why so? Ah well. There is no one individual named in the article. This enables sham “regulator” IPSO to dismiss most, if not all, of the well over 1,000 complaints that have so far been received. So they will get away with it. If only the same could be said for all those in Muslim communities across the country bracing themselves for hate attacks from those gullible enough to believe the Sun’s vicious exercise in bigotry.

And remember - Gallagher and Newton Dunn haven’t got the spine to explain themselves. Nobody at the Sun has. What a complete and absolute shower.