Politics editor battles to correct misinformation which left teacher’s ‘life blown apart’
Journalists often talk about the role of journalism in fighting disinformation and misinformation in an online world where too often falsehoods have travelled around the globe while the truth is still putting its boots on.
But cliches to one side, how often do we see real world examples of that in action? Step forward BirminghamLive, the country’s biggest regional news website.
When a video began circulating, purporting to show a canvasser for a Labour candidate in the Dudley Council elections using racist language, condemnation was as swift as it was brutal. The video has been viewed 800k times.
The video was shared widely by West Midlands independent mayoral candidate Akhmed Yakoob. Mr Yakoob later posted the name of the teacher in the video, and the school she worked at, to his followers.
A mild mannered maths and PE teacher, she was thrust into the public spotlight and labelled a racist. Her name, her school, email, phone number and even her car registration were blasted across social media.
She received hundreds of hateful messages, including death threats, in the ensuing furore.
That’s where Jane Haynes, the politics and people editor at BirminghamLive, stepped in.
Jane, writing in her weekly newsletter, Inside Birmingham, said: “When her fellow volunteer asked her: ‘Who did they vote for?’ as they walked on to the next house, she told him: ‘(I) couldn’t understand’. She then started to share a house number, beginning ‘Ninety…’
“So how was it that this mundane exchange became widely misheard as ‘Fucking P***s. P***s’?’”
Jane visited the house where the video was filmed, and then spent time with Qasim Mughal, the councillor the volunteer was canvassing on behalf of, who described the impact the video had on his friend.
Later, Jane was able to reveal that “analysts who interrogated the video for the Labour Party found nothing untoward was said, and that the version promoted by Mr Yakoob had been manipulated.”
She added: “They examined the waveforms and audio playback speeds and found changes to the volume in the second section of the video. The volume of the alleged racist comments was discernibly louder, suggesting alterations. The subtitles were not correct and the alleged language was not used.”
That view was backed up by West Midlands Police — with BirminghamLive taking a lead role in attempting to correct the narrative which was sweeping social media.
Jane has subsequently revealed that the Solicitors Regulation Authority is now investigating Mr Yakoob for using social media to promote the false claim of racism.
The victim, meanwhile, has told Jane ‘my heart is full’ as people rallied around her.
