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LONDON: An independent organisation looking into media coverage of racist remarks made against Pakistani men by British Home Secretary Suella Braverman found that the media in the UK largely covered Ms Braverman’s comments without challenge, with some TV news channels pushing her false statements.
The Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMMUK), a project of the Muslim Council of Britain, published a report about media coverage in the wake of a column penned by Ms Braverman in April in which she highlighted that grooming gang members in certain parts of the country were often ethnically Pakistani, and that she was merely pointing out “unfashionable facts”. She then went on to defend her remarks in TV interviews, in which she said British Pakistani men “hold cultural values at odds with British values”.
Her remarks were heavily criticised by political commentators and children’s charities as “inflammatory”.
Minister had accused Pakistani men of holding values ‘at odds with British’ customs
The report found that 40 per cent of the mainstream TV coverage did not provide context to the Home Secretary’s remarks by referencing her own department’s report on the topic; that Sky News challenged the Home Secretary more than BBC News; that channel GB News focussed on the issue more than any other news outlet, provided significantly less context and promoted a number of problematic tropes on the topic. It also said the usage of ‘Pakistani Muslim’ alongside grooming was unchallenged across all news channels.
CfMMUK also published a list of tropes and what individuals repeating her views said. Some of these statements made in the media include “All cultures are not the same, they are not equal”, “why have they remained so foreign?”, “Sunak I think quite rightly speaking about the ethnic origin of the perpetrators”.
“The issue of child sexual abuse by groups of men, is a serious one, and one that rightly creates disgust and significant concern amongst the public. It is therefore vital that news reporting, especially on regulated TV channels, is done responsibly and consistently, avoiding the significant failings we have highlighted here,” the organisation said in statement released alongside the report.
Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2023
