Khyra Ishaq Media Watch
I’m going to track some of the media output on the Khyra Ishaq case today to see who is a DCSF lapdog. Lapdogs get a FAIL, reporting the facts without comment from Badman or the like gets a PASS. Feel free to put any you find in the comments or Tweet me and I’ll add them.
FAIL
- BBC - Could Khyra Ishaq have been saved? A spectacular fail too, but with their track record of being anti-HE not at all unexpected. Note - the BBC have a complaints form if you find the above as offensive as I do. Maire, Tech, Debs, Jax and Jemmo have blogged theirs. Advise on HOW you complain to the BBC from Hecate including the relevant bits of the Broadcasting Code.
- Not the Guardian’s fault they’re just printing what the Statement from Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board has to say, which boils down to some serious buck passing and scapegoating, just as you’d expect!
PASS
- Daily Mail - Mother guilty of deliberately starving daughter, 7, to death despite numerous visits from social workers
- Channel 4 - Khyra Ishaq’s mother convicted of manslaughter
- Birmingham Mail - Khyra Ishaq death: Child starved to death surrounded by food
- Channel 4 - ‘Alarm bells should have rung’
- Guardian - Khyra Ishaq: the warning signs that were missed
- Times - Khyra Ishaq: locked away without food and punished with a cane
- Telegraph - Mother of Khyra Ishaq cleared of murder
- Sky News - Judge Condemns Council Over Girl Who Starved
- 24dash - Birmingham City Council apologises for failing to save starved Khyra
- Times - Judge attacks council over Khyra Ishaq who was starved to death
- Independent - Mother of Khyra Ishaq who starved to death cleared of murder
jacqueline Said on February 26th, 2010 at 4:28 pm quote
Hi there
I work for the BBC and filed a complaint. Don’t let The Guardian off the hook either. I used to work for them and a huge part of their revenue comes from advertising from public sector - including off course social services. They are quite capable of reporting without bias - they know how to! So why have they been so keen to take up the official line when no other paper seems to have done so?
I also pointed out to the BBC that Khyra and Victoria Climbie were from ethnic minority groups. Would they run a piece suggesting that this was the common denominator in child abuse? I was shocked by the bigotry and prejudice in the BBC piece but as it’s a world of people with big careers and children in perpetual childcare I suspect it suits many journalists to reassure themselves that 24hr school is the best place for their kids!
Lorraine Said on February 26th, 2010 at 4:46 pm quote
I’ve filled out the BBC complaints form……they are helping the government use the death of this poor little girl to fuel their bigoted campaign against home education. The government want to use this case to justify registration and monitoring. It’s just too ridiculous for words to think that an EWO could have gone into the house to discuss education, picked up on things that SOCIAL SERVICES (who are trained to do it) missed, and therefore save her. Khyra wouldn’t have been visited by an EWO anyway because she WAS registered at school and all the “signs” were either missed or not acted on. Being known to the authorities didn’t save her. It makes me so cross that while her mother was found not guilty of murder the government, with media help, are getting away with linking the case, without any justification, to home education.
sally Said on February 26th, 2010 at 11:36 pm quote
I’ve complained to BBC and blogged it. I also responded, via his blog, to Robin Lustig, presenter of Radio 4, The World Tonight (25th Feb) … which should be added to your list from BBC Iplayer perhaps?
If you want to link to either:
BBC complaint: http://salamanda.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/my-complaint-to-the-bbc-regarding-the-khyra-ishaq-article/
Lustig blog comment (long): http://salamanda.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/blog-comment-to-robin-l/
thanks for compiling this list. It was a joy to read something positive after that awful BBC article!