The UK-based media outlet, Telegraph, admits to misreporting against Pakistan regarding the coronavirus cases in the UK in June this year.
The tabloid stated that a misleading report published in June made its audience believe that Pakistan was responsible for half of the imported cases of COVID-19 in the UK at that particular time.
Telegraph asserted that an article titled “Pakistan … the origin of half of Britain’s imported virus cases” was published on June 26, 2020, that declared Pakistan a high-risk country and called on the UK government to impose strict measures for travelers coming from Pakistan.
Now the tabloid has amended the title of the report to “Half of UK’s imported COVID-19 infections in June are from Pakistan.” The article included an explanation as well. It also released an apology with an explanation for the misleading information on its official Twitter account.
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“This article is based on PHE data relating to individuals who have traveled to the UK from Pakistan between June 4 and the article’s publication date [26 June]: it does not cover the entire period of the pandemic, as readers may have inferred from its original headline and text wording, now amended,” read a paragraph in the edited version of the article.
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) December 22, 2020
On Twitter, Telegraph posted an ISPO ruling as well. According to the ISPO ruling, the editors are acquired to correct the misleading and inaccurate information and issue a public apology.
“Our Tweet 26/6 “Pakistan… the origin of half of Britain’s imported virus cases” (below) was misleading as it suggested that half of all the UK’s imported cases originated in Pakistan., the figures only related to the period 4-26/6,” read the tweet.
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It was later revealed that government-funded organization, PHE, deliberately released the data of the travelers coming from Pakistan only from June 4 to 26.
It was also reported that the misleading against Pakistan even led to a surge in Islamophobia against Pakistanis and Muslims. The report is said to have endangered the lives of 1.5 million British-Pakistanis.
GVS News Desk