The Telegraph admits its corona story blaming Pakistan was misleading
JournalismPakistan.com | Published: 24 December 2020
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The Telegraph has retracted a misleading report claiming that half of Britain's imported COVID-19 cases originated from Pakistan. This acknowledgment followed a complaint by the Muslim Council to the UK press regulator, Ipso, which ruled the article breached the code.Summary
ISLAMABAD—British daily The Telegraph has acknowledged as misleading one of its stories in June this year claiming half of Britain's imported corona cases originated in Pakistan.
The story published on June 26 was headlined ‘Pakistan singled out as the origin of half of Britain’s imported virus cases.’
However, the Center for Media Monitoring filed a complaint with Ipso, the regulator for the press in the UK. Ipso ruled that the story was misleading and breached the code. Miqdaad Versi, a management consultant and spokesperson for the Muslim Council, filed the complaint.
In its tweet reluctantly acknowledging the misleading story, the paper said: “Our Tweet 26/6 "Pakistan...origin of half of Britain’s imported virus cases” was misleading as it suggested that half of all the UK’s imported cases originated in Pakistan. In fact, the figures only related to the period 4-26/6.”
It turned out that the story was based only on the data of 30 Covid cases spread over three weeks.
Key Points
- The Telegraph published a misleading story on June 26.
- Ipso found the report violated press regulations.
- The article misrepresented data concerning 30 Covid cases over three weeks.
- A complaint was filed by Miqdaad Versi on behalf of the Muslim Council.
- The paper clarified that its figures only pertained to a specific time period.
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