The Times retracts 'misleading' claims about Muslim family

The Times retracts 'misleading' claims about Muslim family
The Times, which claimed that Muslim foster parents forced a child to adhere to Islamic rulings, was reprimanded by the Independent Press Standards Organisation.
2 min read
25 April, 2018
The paper published a number of misleading reports on the Muslim foster parents [Twitter]
A leading UK-based newspaper has been forced to correct “distorted” coverage of a story involving a five-year-old Christian girl and Muslim foster parents after a regulator upheld a complaint against the publication.

The Times, which claimed that the Muslim foster parents had forced the child to adhere to Islamic rulings, such as refraining from eating pork, was reprimanded by the Independent Press Standards Organisation.

The publication was forced to publish the notice of the ruling on the front page of its Wednesday edition.

The ruling was made after complaints were raised about a Times report that a “white Christian child” was left distressed after her experience of living with the Muslim fostering parents for a period of six months.

But despite later reports suggesting the girl’s grandmother herself was a Muslim who did not speak English, the Times Executive Editor had refused to correct the misleading stories, reiterating claims against the Muslim foster parents and praising The Times for its alleged “responsible journalism”.

"From the start, we had concerns about the validity of the allegations about the foster carers. For example, one allegation was that they did not speak English, even though that is a prerequisite for any foster carer,” Tower Hamlets Council Chief Executive Will Tuckley, who made the complaint, said. 

"The allegation that the foster placement was a bad choice by the council was also found by IPSO to be distorted information."

Meanwhile, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) praised the IPSO ruling, noting it was the first time a publication was made to correct a story relating to Muslims.

“It is about time the Times was forced to apologise for promoting what was widely known to be an inaccurate, misleading and bigoted narrative about Muslims,” Harun Khan, the organisation’s secretary general, said.

"We hope that this will mark a turning point in the tolerance the Times has shown for anti-Muslim bigotry in its coverage and commentary,” Khan added.