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Britain’s press regulator has
rejected more than 400 complaints made against controversial Sun columnist
Katie Hopkins after she described African migrants as “cockroaches.”
The
recently formed Independent Press Standards Organization (IPSO) acknowledged
that the article caused offence, which was published days after 400 people died
when a migrant boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea last month.
However
IPSO said its Editor’s Code does not address issues of “taste and offence” and
could only refer two complaints which raised points of accuracy with the
Murdoch-owned Sun newspaper.
RT.com reports:
The
National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has condemned the regulator’s decision,
saying it has “thrown further doubt on its own legitimacy.”
IPSO
received more than 400 complaints concerning Katie Hopkins’ article in The Sun,
in which she claimed she would “use gunships to stop migrants.”
Most
complaints covered Clause 12 of the Editor’s Code, which focuses on
discrimination.
The
regulator dismissed these complaints on the basis Hopkins did not mention
individuals, but rather a group of people.
“The
concerns raised by the complainants that the article discriminated against
migrants in general did not therefore raise a possible breach of Clause 12,”
the IPSO said.
Other
objections covered Clause 1, which relates to accuracy of reporting.
Complainants argued Hopkins’ descriptions of migrants as “vagrants” and British
towns with large immigrant populations as “festering sores” were inaccurate.
IPSO
dismissed this complaint, stating that Hopkins’ comments were “not claims of
fact and would not significantly mislead readers.”
The
regulator also rejected complaints which covered Clause 5 (intrusion into grief
or shock) on the basis that IPSO requires a complaint to come from those
involved in the tragedy or their representatives.
The
NUJ said it was “dismayed” at IPSO’s ruling, arguing the regulator should “accept
third party complaints.”
Chris
Frost, chair of the NUJ’s ethical council, said: “Vicious, racist and
inflammatory articles impact on all of us.”
“Katie
Hopkins and The Sun should be held responsible for whipping up xenophobia and
hostility. Such language must be considered a breach of ethical codes.”
Hopkins’
column caused outrage after the businesswoman-turned-media personality said she
was indifferent to the fate of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to
Europe.
“NO, I don’t care. Show me pictures of
coffins, show me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny
people looking sad,” she wrote.
“Make
no mistake, these migrants are like cockroaches. They might look a bit ‘Bob
Geldof’s Ethiopia circa 1984,’ but they are built to survive a nuclear bomb.
They are survivors.”
“Once
gunships have driven them back to their shores, boats need to be confiscated
and burned on a huge bonfire,” she wrote.
More
than 300,000 people have signed an online petition calling for The Sun to sack
Hopkins in light of the comments.
Her
column was even condemned by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights, who said her language resembled pro-genocide propaganda.
Jordanian
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein issued a strongly worded statement which said British
tabloid “misinformation” about immigration was fuelling a “nasty underbelly of
racism.”
He
said that Hopkins’ column used “language very similar to that employed by
Rwanda’s Kangura newspaper and Radio Mille Collines during the run up to the
1994 genocide.”
He
added the media in Nazi Germany also “described people their masters wanted to
eliminate as rats and cockroaches.”
A
British law society has referred Hopkins’ comments to the International
Criminal Court (ICC) on the grounds it incites racial hatred.
Shireen
Khan, a member of the Society of Black Lawyers, told RT: “I believe that the
ICC will take up this case fully as they have a duty to investigate such
matters especially the seriousness of this case, which is further emphasized by
the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ endorsement of our report.”
“Immigrants do not deserve
to be the scapegoat of this country's problems and it's about time we stopped
making them it,” she added.
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