GET THE TROLLS OUT COMPLAINT TO THE DAILY MAIL FOR DEROGATORY EID CELEBRATION ARTICLE
Below is our complaint letter to The Daily Mail. We have not yet received a response, and will update this page when we do.
To whom it may concern,
We, at the Media Diversity Institute (MDI), are writing to express concern regarding an article published on your website on August 1st 2020, titled: “Muslims slaughter cattle, camels and sheep in bloody sacrifice to celebrate Eid al-Adha during scaled back festivities because of the coronavirus crisis” (found here). The article is about the yearly Eid al-Adha celebration, which includes the ritual sacrificing of a lamb or other livestock to commemorate and honor the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ismael as an act of obedience to God's command, as you explain in your article.
Our issue is with the particularly malicious headline accompanying this piece, which opens with
“Muslims slaughter cattle” and refer to the ritual as a “bloody sacrifice.” We would ask: what makes this a newsworthy event? This religious festival happens every year, and the same rituals are always followed. It is comparable to Christmas, a religious festival celebrated by Christians during which every year over 2 million turkeys are killed. Yet, we do not see headlines accusing Christians of slaughtering turkeys in a bloody celebration every December. We feel that this article is part of a larger narrative around Muslims and Islam where they are repeatedly covered in a negative light, painted as dangerous and barbaric. The press, especially a large and much-read platform like the Mail Online, has an immense amount of influence in society. Such power must not be used to sow division.
We would ask the Mail Online to take more care with headlines in the future. Sensationalist and emotive headline like the one in question here are bound to get a lot of attention and clicks, but to what end? Anti-Muslims sentiments are rising in society and coverage such as this only further plays into this dangerous narrative.
MDI works internationally to encourage inclusive and sensitive media coverage and to promote diversity. We have been at the frontline of the fight against discrimination in new and traditional media. We are also the UK partner in Get the Trolls Out, a European project that aims to counter discrimination within the media. Part of this project includes monitoring the media in several European countries for anti-religious hate speech. We are pro-monitoring and pro-accountability and will call out only hateful and inflammatory reporting.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
