Paper review 10/2/07

Now that six of the nine men arrested in Birmingham have been charged the press reporting on this case is more fact-based. However, whilst speculation and rumour is down, it’s not out.

Times:

It is understood that all of the charges relate to the alleged plot to kidnap a Muslim soldier, behead him on film and post the footage on the internet.

Telegraph:

The men are accused of supplying equipment to terrorists between March last year and January this year, under the pretence of bringing in aid for Pakistan earthquake victims.

The Times says that the indictment against Parviz Khan, 36 stated:

that between November 2006 and January 2007 he “engaged in conduct to give effect to his intention to kidnap and kill a member of the British Armed Forces”.

Note the word “kill”. In the whole of the Time’s report this is the only instance in which the word “kill” is employed. The same report uses the word “behead” twice.

The Telegraph uses the word “kill” only in the headline. It uses the words “execute” and “execution” as substitutes in the body of its report.

The Daily Mail and the Sun each use the word “behead” once.

Meanwhile, the Guardian reports Assistant Chief Constable Shaw’s criticism of media reporting:

Mr Shaw also criticised some of the press reporting, and possible damage to the investigation and local communities, asking for "care and responsibility" in covering the case and speaking of "frustration and damage" to communities labelled in the press.

But characterisations of Birmingham’s Muslims as people who are angry continue.

The Telegraph implies that they are angry and liable to act in an undignified manner.

[ACC Shaw] tried to calm tempers in the Muslim community by praising their leadership and emphasising that the arrests were "more than a policing operation"… Dr Mohammad Naseem, the chairman of the Birmingham Central Mosque, said the city's Muslim community should remain dignified and let the law take its course.

The Times does the same:

Mohammad Naseem, chairman of the Birmingham Central mosque, urged the Muslim community to remain dignified and calm.

The Times and Daily Mail find space in the same story to write about the charges against Abu Izzadeen. How the two stories are related (er… they’re both about Muslims?) I don’t know. Nor, apparently, do the Time and Mail, except to say that Abu Izzadeen made a speech in Birmingham which is now under investigation.