Daily Mail and Daily Express 1/2/07

The speculation continued in the Express and the Daily Mail. But here it was a little more brazen. No quotation marks for "up-market tabloids" thankyou very much. Frontpage headlines in both papers went all out and made the seemingly factual statements that 'Al Qaeda was behind plot to behead soldiers' (Daily Mail) and there was a 'Plot to behead soldier here in Britain' (Daily Express). However both papers offered no evidence - just what unnamed sources told them.

The Daily Express used the following speculatory primers:

* page 1
"it was feared..."
"suspected plan was to..."
"thought to be most likely..."
"It is thought...

* page 4
"alleged conspiracy..."
"it is believed..."
"said to have rehearsed..."
"believed to have..."
"also believed to have..."
"It is understood..."
"would have been..."
"If this is true..."

* page 5
"alleged plot would have been..."

* (and for good measure) the editorial
"The thought of..."
"Whether or not..."
"alleged to have been..."
"said to have been..."

The Daily Mail did the same:

* page 1
"alleged plot..."
"would have been..."
"would have caused..."
"alleged plot..."

* page 5
"it is quite possible they would have..."
"could have been..."
"understood to be..."
"It is understood that..."
"It is believed..."

* page 6
"alleged kidnap..."
"would have been..."
"alleged kidnap..."
"would have used..."
"it is believed..."
"alleged plot..."
"if police suspicions over the alleged plot are well founded..."
"alleged plot..."
"alleged plot may have been foiled..."

One page 7 of the Mail there was sympathetic piece outlining some of the things that friends and neigbours have said about the arrested men. Reporter Paul Harris described the difficult generation gaps that exist within Birmingham's Muslim community and the resentment and anger felt by young Asians. A cousin of an arrested man described a "peace-loving family person". Another man is described as a hardworking son who's mother is now at home crying. The report talked of a cultural and racial mix in an anonymous urban environment. The arrested men are everywhere referred to as quiet people who kept themselves to themselves. However just before finishing the piece, Mr Harris remembers he is writing for the Daily Mail and says "Sadly, it is this very anonymity which has provided shelter for evil."