Thread by @OzKaterji

The BBC has just published a story from an upcoming Panorama episode in which Stacey Dooley refers to a raised finger of Tawheed as an "ISIS salute". There is simply no excuse for ignorance like this.

I will be submitting a formal complaint to the BBC regarding that line that appeared in a VT on tonight's News at 10. You can do the same here:
bbc.co.uk/complaints/

I will also be submitting a complaint to OFCOM, you can do the same here: ofcom.org.uk/complain-to-of…

The complaint I have submitted says the following:
"Stacey Dooley, while visiting an internment camp in Al-Hawl, Syria, describes meeting female former IS members. During the VT, one of the women raises her finger, this finger raising gesture is an Orthodox Sunni Muslim practice"

"Stacey Dooley refers to this gesture as an "ISIS Salute", which is both ignorant and offensive to adherents of Sunni Islam. The gesture has been adopted by ISIS members, but it does not belong to them, and referring to it as such is beneath a news broadcast."

I have to await a formal response from the BBC before I can escalate the complaint to OFCOM. Alternatively, @StaceyDooley can proactively apologise and issue a correction to the broadcast. Problems like this would not arise if the BBC hired more diverse news producers.

@StaceyDooley Steve Rose has helpfully taken a screenshot of the moment in question.

https://twitter.com/steveplrose/status/1158139527631921153?s=20

I am thankful to the BBC for their prompt apology and retraction of this mistake, and thankful for the support I received last night from fellow members of the press
telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/0…

As this thread by @TellMamaUK points out, a mistake like this spreads across mainstream media and becomes accepted as the normal interpretation of this gesture very quickly. That’s why it’s important to speak out and correct these problems when they occur

https://twitter.com/tellmamauk/status/1158299793233518593?s=21

I hope Stacey and producers involved also see how many racist responses my complaint instigated, and how many people Tweeted me to tell me that there is no difference between IS and Islam. This is what incidents like this cause, and the media has a responsibility to prevent that

I have no doubt that this retraction was prompted not by me, but by dozens of female Muslim BBC journalists that were also offended and expressed their feelings about it. I can’t stress this enough, newsrooms need to be diverse, & if you hire more diverse staff, this won’t happen

Also a personal shout out to the trolls who told me I was wrong, the BBC retracted and apologised. Hopefully you will listen and learn next time.

While I am disappointed Stacey herself has not apologised, I am satisfied with the BBC response and will draw a line under this here. Thanks for the kind words of support.