U.K. Counter-Terror Chief Calls Out Media for Publishing Far-Right Extremist Content
‘HARMFUL’
“We must recognize this as harmful to our society and security,” he said.
Hannah Mckay/Reuters
U.K.'s counter-terrorism chief, Neil Basu, has slammed the media for spreading “extremist propaganda” in their coverage of some terror attacks. In an open letter to the media quoted by The Guardian on Wednesday, Basu criticized what he described as the hypocrisy of some news outlets for pushing Google and Facebook to weed out extremist content only to later publish the “manifesto” of the alleged Christchurch gunman. He reportedly singled out Mail Online for publishing the 74-page “manifesto” in full and making it available for download. “The reality is that every terrorist we have dealt with has sought inspiration from the propaganda of others, and when they can’t find it on Facebook, YouTube, Telegram or Twitter they only have to turn on the TV, read the paper or go to one of a myriad of mainstream media websites struggling to compete with those platforms,” Basu said.
