The UK press regulator IPSO has received hundreds of complaints concerning a column in the British newspaper in which the phrase “the Muslim Problem”.
25 August 2017
The UK press regulator IPSO has received hundreds of complaints concerning a column in the British newspaper The Sun in which the phrase “the Muslim Problem” – by many perceived as a reference to the Nazi terminology “the Jewish Problem” – was used. In a blog this week for theLSE Media Policy Project blog of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Aidan White, the Director of the Ethical Journalism Network (EJN), illustrates this controversy and explains what policymakers and journalists can do to counter racism in the press.
For more on journalism and self-regulation the EJN's Trust Factor report from 2015 features reviews of how media regulation functions in eight countries and features a checklist for self-regulation at the individual, enterprise and industry level.
The report asks searching questions of the industry:
Does self-regulation work?
Are journalists bound by ethical codes and free to act according to conscience?
Do media houses have credible internal systems for dealing with conflicts of interest and complaints from the public?
Are there national accountability systems, such as press councils, that are trusted by owners, journalists and, most importantly, by the public at large?
To mark World Day against Trafficking in Persons, the Ethical Journalism Network collaborated with the Frontline Club London to present Sea of Pictures – a film about the ethics of how media use images of refugees and vulnerable people. The screening was followed by a panel discussion chaired by EJN Chair Dorothy Byrne, Head of News and Current Affairs at Channel Four in the UK. Read more about the event here.
If you would like to support the Ethical Journalism Network by translating our guidelines into you language contact Tom Law: tom.law@ethicaljournalismnetwork.org
Visit the Accountable Journalism database of codes of media ethics
