A news channel has apologised for wrongly describing a Muslim cleric as the mayor of Brighton and Hove, Mohammed Asaduzzaman.
On Patrick Christys Tonight on GBNews on Tuesday (16 July), it was also wrongly suggested that Councillor Asaduzzaman was a “regional mayor” who might benefit from devolved powers being proposed by the new Labour government.
Disappointed in @GBNEWS /Patrick Christys. Cheap point based on lazy and ignorant assumption about Brighton’s Mayor Asaduzzaman using a video clip that isn’t him. Brighton’s Mayor (has no powers and carries out ceremonial duties). I hope GB News will apologise to @MayorOfficeBHCC pic.twitter.com/KKeENWbMB8
— Adrian Hart (@AdrianHartQuPk) July 16, 2024
A clip of a Muslim cleric arriving at a mosque was said to show the mayor of Brighton and Hove who has no executive powers and is politically neutral.
The clip was a TikTok post by the Aslamiya Foundation of Muslim cleric Shaykh Sufi Muhammad Asghar Aslami arriving at the Mosque Centre in Bedford in June.
The comments and clip were condemned by Brighton and Hove City Council leader Bella Sankey who said that the segment was “racist garbage” and called for an immediate correction and apology.
In his programme yesterday (Thursday 18 July), Mr Christys apologised for both mistakes, saying that Councillor Asaduzzaman was not the person in the video and was a ceremonial mayor and, in that role, acted in a non-political capacity.
Earlier this week, a clip from the show was tweeted by Queen’s Park resident Adrian Hart who criticised the error.
Well, it’s all a bit confusing what with Brighton Pavilion being a mosque and everything …
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/brighton-pavilion-backdrop-at-labour-conference-mistaken-for-mosque-a3643686.html
I’m very glad to see that GB News presenter Patrick Christys made this apology. In the middle of an otherwise fascinating item on devolution, I was horrified to watch Christys insert a clip that simultaneously defamed Mohammed Asaduzzaman while informing viewers that Brighton & Hove has a devolved ‘metro mayor’ system. It would seem that eagerness to sound a note of caution about the power wielded by evermore metro-mayors led a producer to latch on to several faked clips about Asaduzzaman doing the rounds on X. On a split screen, these clips showed a Muslim cleric in Bedford, Muslim religious celebrations elsewhere (and similar gatherings) on one side and a photo of our Mayor on the other.
Naming Mohammed (who I’ve known ever since he stood as an Independent in my ward 15 years ago), Christys then says “Realistically, do we want more power in the hands of people like that?”
Its lazy and ignorant and unforgivable. Important discussion points on regional devolution and on recent general election examples of an antisemitic Islamist vote taking shape get swept away by a single clip displaying the worst journalism.
Of course, the eagerness to jump to conclusions and issue baseless smears isn’t confined to the typically excellent GB News. Cllr Sankey is right to condemn GB News but she’d be wise to reflect on her own administration’s statements in the media. She herself smears parents raising concerns about pupil safeguarding in relation to gender ideology and is happy that her council denigrates the accounts of rape survivors demanding female-only trauma services and demeans these women as transphobes.
Both GB News (and journalists in general) along with politicians (national and local) need to recognise their part in lowering the quality of political discourse.
I never watch BBC news these days as it is biased with its own agenda. GB NEWS usually gets it right but it accepted on this occasion it got it wrong. GB NEWS is getting better i mainly watch it now as don’t trust the BBC and some other media.
lol and GB news is totally impartial and has no agenda?
I sometimes watch GBNews, full of the knowledge of its biases. I feel it is good practice to get information from various sources and perspectives to give a well-rounded viewpoint on any particular topic. I think this article also demonstrates an important lesson that just because it is on the news, it is not infallible to inaccuracies, and one should always do a bit of critical thinking onself!
Gb news is the best.
Trust GBNews more than Sky,Beeb,ITN Ch4.