Some times, I just can't help myself. Some people might let it go, but no, I'm a stubborn bastard at the best of times. You may recall that a few days back, I wrote to Melanie Phillips about her article referring to the attack by 'Muslims' on an army barracks in Windsor. After writing, Melanie altered her website slightly. However, in my opinion, this was not enough. Phillips had contributed, alongside the right-wing media, to increased tensions in the area. Numerous unpalatable things were said about Muslims in the area in light of this 'attack', and the right-wing media saw it as an opportunity to create an environment of hatred.
Quite frankly, I find this kind of reporting totally disgusting. There was a fundamental failure to look into the facts and report them as such. The feeble excuses by the Tory MP, shows how little many on the right were prepared to dig a little deeper into the story. This is typical of the right. Damage done, let's move on to something else to divert the masses. The only way to tackle this gutter journalism is to confront it or expose it. So, I didn't settle for Phillips' feeble response and I sent her another email (a little sycophantic in places, but I hoped it would elicit a response).
The bits I found particularly interesting, were the following:
'The correction did not deny the original information.'
and,
'readers can judge for themselves.'
What does this mean?? Presumably, Phillips believes that the story is still factually accurate, despite what the police have said. The conspiracy theory clearly runs all the way to the police service. I'm not sure how, with the lack of credible evidence, Phillips can continue to make such statements. There is no evidence whatsoever that Muslims were involved in this attack, to claim otherwise is to mislead the reader and, hence, impede their ability to 'judge for themselves'. To utilise her phrase:
The wider deception is the worst of it.
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