The Times forced to issue apology for false Muslim foster story

The UK’s leading press regulator has ruled that The Times ‘distorted’ coverage of a five-year-old Christian girl who was last year placed with Muslim foster parents.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) ruled that the paper must publish an apology on page six or an even more prominent position – as well as on its website.

The ruling comes after the newspaper ran three front-page stories in August 2017, after the girl was taken from her mother’s care by Tower Hamlets Council in East London.

The paper alleged that the carers had confused the girl by speaking Arabic, removing a crucifix and stopping her from eating bacon.

But their claims were at odds with a council investigation, which found that the allegations raised by the newspaper were wholly unsubstantiated.

Tower Hamlets Council also said that the front page headline ‘Judge rules child must leave Muslim foster home’ was entirely misleading because the child’s grandmother was Muslim.

Appearing in front of the Commons Home Affairs Committee yesterday, Times assistant editor Ian Brunskill acknowledged that the story had caused ‘an enormous amount of trouble for us, for other people.’

he Muslim Council of Britain said it was the first time a story relating to Islam had been corrected on the front page of a newspaper.

Harun Khan, the organisation’s secretary general, said: “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.

“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.”