LONDON: Five months after sensationally reporting that Pakistan was the origin of and responsible for half of Britain’s imported coronavirus cases, two influential UK newspapers have accepted that they published misleading and false headlines.
A story was first published on July 26 by *The Telegraph* newspaper with the headlines: “Exclusive: Half of Britain’s imported conronavrius cases originate from Pakistan”.
The same story was republished by *Daily Mail, The Sun, Breitbart* and several other papers.
The stories were highlighted by *The News*and *Geo* for the inaccuracies and stereotyping of Pakistanis. The news reports asked the Public Health England (PHE) to provide proof as *Daily Telegraph* had claimed it had received the information from the PHE.
The Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM), associated with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) that *Mail Online, Daily Telegraph* breached Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice in the articles, falsely accusing Pakistan of importing corona cases to the UK.
By: Murtaza Ali Shah
Source: link