As Alan at Biased BBC points out, yesterday (and this morning) the BBC made the story of the surgeon stabbed outside a mosque into a major news item.
On the BBC News website's Home page it appeared under headlines such as 'Hate crime probe after man stabbed in neck on way to mosque' , 'Altrincham hate crime probe after surgeon stabbed outside mosque' and 'Altrincham mosque stabbing: Surgeon attacked in 'hate crime'.
Today (this afternoon), a new report replaced yesterday's report and those headlines have changed to 'Altrincham mosque stabbing suspect charged'.
The story itself, however, has vanished from the BBC News website Home page and now appears in the lower reaches of the Manchester section of the website where few people are likely to read it.
The story itself, however, has vanished from the BBC News website Home page and now appears in the lower reaches of the Manchester section of the website where few people are likely to read it.
Yesterday all of the BBC's updates to the story cited Greater Manchester Police officers saying they were treating the attack as a 'hate crime' and featured claims from "community sources" that the victim had heard " Islamophobic comments" at the time of the attack.
Today - in that buried-away article on the Manchester page - the BBC reports that "a Greater Manchester Police spokesman said the force does not believe there was a racial motive to the attack".
Why isn't that being splashed by the BBC?
So when it sounds as if an 'Islamophobic hate crime' has taken place it's a major BBC news story but when (a day or so later) the police change their tune and say the attack doesn't appear to have 'a racial motive', then all the 'Islamophobic hate crime' stuff disappears from the BBC's reporting, and the story itself tumbles from public sight.
If that isn't deplorable journalism I'm not sure what is.
Unless I'm missing something here.
