Sky News Australia recognizes an “editorial fault” after an Islamophobic sequence

ByMuhammad

Sky News Australia apologized after the broadcast on Sunday evening of a passage deemed “highly offensive”. Guest of the show Freya Fires Upthe British Ryan Williams appeared dressed in a shirt covered with bacon slices, throwing insults directly aimed at Islam and qualifying Muslims as “terrorists”. The presenter Freya Leach remained silent before cutting short and apologizing. The chain, ownership of News Corp, recognized “a serious breach of its editorial procedures” and announced an internal audit on the choice and control of guests. Although the sequence has not been rebroadcast, the extract circulates largely on the extreme right networks, where it is hailed as a “coup de radiance”.

This incident revives the debate on the excesses of certain continuous news channels, accused of favoring the spectacular to the detriment of responsibility. Several Muslim associations in Australia denounce a trivialization of hatred speeches and ask the media regulator to investigate. Sky News is not at his first controversy. In 2018, the chain had already caused an uproar by inviting a neonazi activist to speak immigration. The repetition of such slippages casts doubt on the effectiveness of its control mechanisms and fuels criticism on the complacency of certain media towards extremist currents.

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Muhammad

Muhammad is a visionary thinker and passionate writer who has been contributing to Understanding Islam for several years.