Article 1
Headline: Anti-terror raids: 'The lessons must be learned - and quickly'
Section: News
Written by: David Ottewell
Page: Front page and continued on page 2
Outline: This article reports on the release without charge of the 12 suspects arrested by Police across the North West on suspicion of terrorism.
Previous reviews carried of M.E.N articles related to these raids can be found in the reports for 9th April and 16th April.
The articles on 9th April were written by Yakub Qureshi and John Scheerhout and were rated as 'neutral'. No author was listed for the article on 16th April, but that was also rated as 'neutral'.
This particular article is written by David Ottewell who is listed as Chief Reporter for Politics and Transport .
The headline is drawn from comments made by Councillor Afzal Khan who is former Lord Mayor.
The 1st paragraph of the article mentions that all suspects were relased without charge. In the 2nd paragraph a quote from Mr Khan is presented where he states that the Muslim community could lose confidence in the Police and that lessons must be learnt quickly because the Police are 'getting it wrong' too often.
The article mentions that a review of the whole Police operation is to be carried out however Ottewell also goes onto state that "Senior security sources...remained 'absolutely' confident the men...had posed a real and immediate threat to Britain".
This comment starts in paragraph 5 on the front page and rolls over onto page 2. Not surprisingly Ottewell fails to provide the names of these "Senior security sources..." therefore making it just that much harder to verify the validity of these claims or if indeed these sources are even linked to security.
If they were, as Ottewell claims, "Senior security sources" then surely the conviction of their views and suspicions must have held enough weight to bring about charges or even further interrogation time agianst the suspects. The fact that neither happened and the suspects were released without charge just makes it more likely that these so called sources are just a method often used by Journalists to give readers the impression that they have access to the 'inside track' allowing them to bring exclusive stories to light. It may be the case that this is one way for journalists to smuggle in their own opinions on a particular matter whilst cloaking them in the ambiguity that comes with terms like "our sources".
This pretty much sets the scene for the remainder of the article which is continued on page 2 and features comments by Peter Fahy, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police where he is quoted as saying that he did not feel embarassed or humiliated and would do the same again in reference to the raids that led to the arrests.
Ottewell is clearly trying to portray to the readers that the relase of these suspects is a mistake as the article is highlighting statements by the Police where they are backing the raid. In another paragraph Ottewell quotes "police sources..." sayin that the intelligence against the suspects was "compelling" though not matched by evidence from the searches of the suspects' properties and posessions.
That seems like a bit of contradiction don't you think? Logic would dictate that surely if the intelligence is "compelling" that it is based on hard fact, if nothing turned out off the back of this "compelling" evidence then surely the conclusion to draw from this is that the evidence wasn't actually "compelling", it was false much like Iraq and famed WMDs.
Whilst it is not Ottewell who is making the claim above, he is writing about and airing the Police spin on the raid which is obviously going to present the Police as the good guys in the face of this massive blunder.
It's not all pro-Police though as Ottewell provides a 90 word quote by ex Lord Mayor Mr Khan where he mentions the Muslim communities support for the Police but issues a warning that support may be near breaking point as the relationship between the Police and Muslim community is losing confidence. Another 30 word quote by another Councillor, Martin Pagel, is provided where he echoes Mr Khan's sentiments.
Ottewell then goes onto provide more detailed quotes by Police Constable Fahy which totals 147 words, which is a slightly higher word count than the quotes by Mr Khan and Mr Pagel combined.
The article finishes by mentioning that one of the arrested men is a British citizen and states that "he is understood to be a member of Tabligee Jamat...", he goes onto describe that this is "an Islamic group which goes door to door in local communities visiting Muslims to reinforce their faith by getting them to pray and attend the mosque".
He then tells readers that this person is a "Pashtun speaker" which is an incorrect statement to make as Pashtun is an ethnic group and the language they speak is Pashto, I guess this point can be passed off as a minor error. Ottewell mentions this person's occupation, that he's active in Tableegi Jamat, how long he's been in Britain and that he attended the Mosque regularly.
The previous articles on this topic published by the M.E.N were given a 'neutral' rating, however the same cannot be said for Ottewell's piece. Whilst he has presented quotes by the councillors which are slightly crtitical of the Police action he has given significant 'aritime' to views expressed by the Police and Ottewell's "Senior security sources", which unsurprisingly are focused of absolving the Police of any blame over this botched operation and instead try to convinve people that the threat is real.
By doing so the readers are likely to sympathise more with the Police lstance rather than the suspects who are innocent. Ottewell's detailed description of the unnamed British Citizen especially his involvement in a religious group and regular attendance at the Mosque is also likely to present the readers with a negative view of Muslims.
In summary Ottewell has produced a pro-Police article which fails to give prominence to the failure of the operation and fails to raise questions about the quality of intelligence being used to carry out such raids. If anything his article makes readers think that maybe the release of these suspects was the wrong thing to do. I think it'd be fair to give Ottewell a 'negative' rating for this article.
Artice Verdict: Negative
Previous reviews carried of M.E.N articles related to these raids can be found in the reports for 9th April and 16th April.
The articles on 9th April were written by Yakub Qureshi and John Scheerhout and were rated as 'neutral'. No author was listed for the article on 16th April, but that was also rated as 'neutral'.
This particular article is written by David Ottewell who is listed as Chief Reporter for Politics and Transport .
The headline is drawn from comments made by Councillor Afzal Khan who is former Lord Mayor.
The 1st paragraph of the article mentions that all suspects were relased without charge. In the 2nd paragraph a quote from Mr Khan is presented where he states that the Muslim community could lose confidence in the Police and that lessons must be learnt quickly because the Police are 'getting it wrong' too often.
The article mentions that a review of the whole Police operation is to be carried out however Ottewell also goes onto state that "Senior security sources...remained 'absolutely' confident the men...had posed a real and immediate threat to Britain".
This comment starts in paragraph 5 on the front page and rolls over onto page 2. Not surprisingly Ottewell fails to provide the names of these "Senior security sources..." therefore making it just that much harder to verify the validity of these claims or if indeed these sources are even linked to security.
If they were, as Ottewell claims, "Senior security sources" then surely the conviction of their views and suspicions must have held enough weight to bring about charges or even further interrogation time agianst the suspects. The fact that neither happened and the suspects were released without charge just makes it more likely that these so called sources are just a method often used by Journalists to give readers the impression that they have access to the 'inside track' allowing them to bring exclusive stories to light. It may be the case that this is one way for journalists to smuggle in their own opinions on a particular matter whilst cloaking them in the ambiguity that comes with terms like "our sources".
This pretty much sets the scene for the remainder of the article which is continued on page 2 and features comments by Peter Fahy, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police where he is quoted as saying that he did not feel embarassed or humiliated and would do the same again in reference to the raids that led to the arrests.
Ottewell is clearly trying to portray to the readers that the relase of these suspects is a mistake as the article is highlighting statements by the Police where they are backing the raid. In another paragraph Ottewell quotes "police sources..." sayin that the intelligence against the suspects was "compelling" though not matched by evidence from the searches of the suspects' properties and posessions.
That seems like a bit of contradiction don't you think? Logic would dictate that surely if the intelligence is "compelling" that it is based on hard fact, if nothing turned out off the back of this "compelling" evidence then surely the conclusion to draw from this is that the evidence wasn't actually "compelling", it was false much like Iraq and famed WMDs.
Whilst it is not Ottewell who is making the claim above, he is writing about and airing the Police spin on the raid which is obviously going to present the Police as the good guys in the face of this massive blunder.
It's not all pro-Police though as Ottewell provides a 90 word quote by ex Lord Mayor Mr Khan where he mentions the Muslim communities support for the Police but issues a warning that support may be near breaking point as the relationship between the Police and Muslim community is losing confidence. Another 30 word quote by another Councillor, Martin Pagel, is provided where he echoes Mr Khan's sentiments.
Ottewell then goes onto provide more detailed quotes by Police Constable Fahy which totals 147 words, which is a slightly higher word count than the quotes by Mr Khan and Mr Pagel combined.
The article finishes by mentioning that one of the arrested men is a British citizen and states that "he is understood to be a member of Tabligee Jamat...", he goes onto describe that this is "an Islamic group which goes door to door in local communities visiting Muslims to reinforce their faith by getting them to pray and attend the mosque".
He then tells readers that this person is a "Pashtun speaker" which is an incorrect statement to make as Pashtun is an ethnic group and the language they speak is Pashto, I guess this point can be passed off as a minor error. Ottewell mentions this person's occupation, that he's active in Tableegi Jamat, how long he's been in Britain and that he attended the Mosque regularly.
The previous articles on this topic published by the M.E.N were given a 'neutral' rating, however the same cannot be said for Ottewell's piece. Whilst he has presented quotes by the councillors which are slightly crtitical of the Police action he has given significant 'aritime' to views expressed by the Police and Ottewell's "Senior security sources", which unsurprisingly are focused of absolving the Police of any blame over this botched operation and instead try to convinve people that the threat is real.
By doing so the readers are likely to sympathise more with the Police lstance rather than the suspects who are innocent. Ottewell's detailed description of the unnamed British Citizen especially his involvement in a religious group and regular attendance at the Mosque is also likely to present the readers with a negative view of Muslims.
In summary Ottewell has produced a pro-Police article which fails to give prominence to the failure of the operation and fails to raise questions about the quality of intelligence being used to carry out such raids. If anything his article makes readers think that maybe the release of these suspects was the wrong thing to do. I think it'd be fair to give Ottewell a 'negative' rating for this article.
Artice Verdict: Negative
Article 2
Headline: 'Many now worry this could happen to them'
Section: News
Written by: Yakub Qureshi
Page: 2
Outline: This article is featured on page 2 above article 1 by David Ottewell. This article presents the one view that Ottewell completely overlooked in his piece, reaction from the local people of Cheetham Hill to the botched Police raid.
Qureshi brings to light views of locals and how this blunder is denting their confidence in the Police much like Councillor Afzal Khan is quoted as saying in article 1. Qureshi presents some historical perspective to the Cheetham Hill are describing it as the city's "first port of call".
Qureshi provides comments by people who knew the suspects that were arrested thus providing a character reference of sorts for the released men. It also features statements by a local man Hamza Gilazi and mentions how his house was searched for 5 days by the Police despite Mr Gilazi not being questioned or arrested. This is a good point to highlight as it brings to light other victims of the Police operation who were in no way linked but had to endure stress. One key point raised is that Police have taken some items from Mr Gilazi's home and not returned them.
Qureshi then goes onto mention that 2 people from the area have been charged on terrorism offences but balances this out by highlighting another botched raid by Police in 2007.
Further "character references" for the suspects are provided by people who are named in the article such as a University Student who speaks of of one of the suspects being a "peacful person". It's very important and good that Qureshi has brought these comments to light. He also highlights the apprehension and fear that the raid has caused amongst the local people.
The final part of the article mentions the residents' anger at the level of force used by the Police at the time of day when Children were playing in the street. The closing statement of the article is the most important in my opinion it is presented by a sales assistant named as Fatima Jalil who is quoted as saying "People going to mosque regularly, and some men having a beard, is quite normal here - it doesn't mean that they are plotting terror".
By placing this at the end of the article the statement is directly aimed at readers and this is a good thing as it's an important message to get out to every non Muslim person in this country.
Yakub Qureshi has written a good article which presents the human side i.e. the real world view of the operation as opposed to Ottewell who championed the carefully constructed PR messages of the Police force.
This article is given a 'positive' rating.
Article Verdict: PositiveQureshi brings to light views of locals and how this blunder is denting their confidence in the Police much like Councillor Afzal Khan is quoted as saying in article 1. Qureshi presents some historical perspective to the Cheetham Hill are describing it as the city's "first port of call".
Qureshi provides comments by people who knew the suspects that were arrested thus providing a character reference of sorts for the released men. It also features statements by a local man Hamza Gilazi and mentions how his house was searched for 5 days by the Police despite Mr Gilazi not being questioned or arrested. This is a good point to highlight as it brings to light other victims of the Police operation who were in no way linked but had to endure stress. One key point raised is that Police have taken some items from Mr Gilazi's home and not returned them.
Qureshi then goes onto mention that 2 people from the area have been charged on terrorism offences but balances this out by highlighting another botched raid by Police in 2007.
Further "character references" for the suspects are provided by people who are named in the article such as a University Student who speaks of of one of the suspects being a "peacful person". It's very important and good that Qureshi has brought these comments to light. He also highlights the apprehension and fear that the raid has caused amongst the local people.
The final part of the article mentions the residents' anger at the level of force used by the Police at the time of day when Children were playing in the street. The closing statement of the article is the most important in my opinion it is presented by a sales assistant named as Fatima Jalil who is quoted as saying "People going to mosque regularly, and some men having a beard, is quite normal here - it doesn't mean that they are plotting terror".
By placing this at the end of the article the statement is directly aimed at readers and this is a good thing as it's an important message to get out to every non Muslim person in this country.
Yakub Qureshi has written a good article which presents the human side i.e. the real world view of the operation as opposed to Ottewell who championed the carefully constructed PR messages of the Police force.
This article is given a 'positive' rating.
Metro
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