ENORB Complaint to L’Echo about Islamophobic Coverage of Corona Hotspots in Belgium

Get The Trolls Out partner for Francophone Belgium, European Network on Religion and Belief (ENORB) have sent a letter of complaint to a Belgian business newspaper L’Echo after it published Sophie Leroy’s Islamophobic analysis into levels of adherence to COVID-19 restrictions across the country. Leroy’s article unfairly blames Muslims for the existence of corona hotspots where health restrictions are not being observed. As such, it contributes to the infantilisation of Muslim communities, evident from the first days of the pandemic that saw the distribution of flyers or videos by the Mayors of some municipalities singling-out Muslim people and telling them how to behave.

In their complaint, ENORB stated:

While you correctly point out that some communities are more affected by the virus than others, including the Muslim population, you missed the opportunity to analysis the real causes. Muslims, and especially women, are often overexposed to disease (and therefore death) because they are disproportionately represented in essential but undervalued areas of work, including the cleaning, care and security sectors (with precarious working conditions), resulting from socio-economic inequalities in the employment, housing and health sectors due to racial discrimination. This more likely explains the fact that these populations are more affected by the virus rather than a lack of access or adherence to government measures, or a lack of understanding of the proper use of wearing the mask. Our goal is to illustrate and raise awareness about the impact of these narratives, especially in a broader context of minority stigma. We are also concerned that this stigma has even worsened during the pandemic across several European countries by numerous hate messages addressed to Muslim populations targeted and falsely accused of spreading the virus.

ENORB has received the following reply from L’Echo’s Managing Editor, Olivier Ditroia:

 I take note of your remarks which I also transmit to the editor of the article in question.

Allow me, however, to stress the ethical values of our journalists. Our articles are particularly renowned for factual analyses of current events, in principle without bias. The amount of space dedicated to opinion/commentary in our pieces is strictly regulated to avoid any suspicion of disproportionality. In this case, my colleague refers to “certain sections of the population” or “certain communities.” The examples cited concern various kinds of communities and the title of the article is inclusive of most.

Finally, my colleague gives a voice to various interlocutors from the political or medical world, who likewise speak about a variety of communities mentioned in the article. Consequently, I don't see stigma being attached to a particular community through this piece.