Media Storm - News Watch: Striking doctors' salaries, Islamophobia against Zohran Mamdani, and Japan's far-right surge

Episode Date: July 24, 2025

Support us on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! This week on News Watch: Spot the omissions and exaggerations in right-wing coverage of NHS doctors’ strikes. Why are some outlets pushing misleading narratives, and what has it got to do with the wealth tax? We seek out the voices missing from The Telegraph’s reports (doctors), and revisit our interview with trade union Secretary General Mick Whelan on how class works in our media. Next: Zohran Mamdani’s been caught out by the New York Post… or has he? We look at the rampant Islamophobia surfacing after the mayoral candidate’s Democratic nomination, and ask why anti-Muslim hatred is one of the most socially permitted forms of bigotry in the Western world. Plus - did you read about the Afghan data leak that endangered some 100,000 people living under Taliban rule? More likely, you read about the 'secret scheme' threatening covert immigration to the UK. Here’s how the British press made it all about them. And Japan’s far-right Sanseito party made unprecedented gains in Sunday’s election. Journalist Shiori Clark reacts to their ‘Japanese First’ campaign mantra, and the counter-movement behind Japan’s first ever participation in World Refugee Week. The episode ends with Eyes on Palestine: Why does Sky News keep publishing Israeli army excuses for mass child killings as fact? The episode is hosted and produced by Mathilda Mallinson (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mathildamall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) and Helena Wadia (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@helenawadia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)  The music is by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @soundofsamfire⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok ⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Details and tickets at festivalofauthors.ca. What did your ancestors really do all day? Beyond names, what were their lives like? With Ancestry's global historical records, you can discover incredible stories about how your ancestors lived and worked, and for a limited time, you can explore select occupation records for free. Imagine finding your great-grandfather's RCMP records or discovering your ancestors' name in the UK and Ireland Nursing Register.

Don't miss out. Free access ends August 24th. Visit Ancestry.ca for more details. Terms apply. Hi, Matilda. Always talk about how underslept I am. I know. I have so much energy.

Hooray! Welcome to Media Storm. It's a news watch. What's been in the news this week? What hasn't been in the news this week? Well, yeah, it does also feel like that. Did you see that? The voting age is going to be lowered to 16 and 17-year-olds at the next general election.

Is that... Did we have a good news story? I think there might be a good news story. I know. When I saw the BBC. breaking news alert come up I was like oh what fresh hell but then I was like oh okay pleasantly surprised it's not that it hasn't been at all divisive it's a decision that the labor government has brought in and it is likely to favor the left broadly speaking the progressives

oh no boohoo can't pretend to be too sad about that look I think that this is really needed because there is such an imbalance an age based imbalance in who gets a say over how society works? I think it's a great move because if you remember at the Brexit referendum, 16 and 17 year olds couldn't vote and they're the people who the consequences of Brexit are going to affect for the longest amount of time. I mean, it kind of made no sense. Yeah. It's not just because often the most powerful people, those with the most wealth, the most influence, the most connections tend to be older or that when people are in power, they often use that pace of power to secure their personal pensions. But we have an ageing population, right? And we often talk about that in economic terms

or how is a younger workforce going to support a growing number of pensioners. But it also has a democratic impact. It creates a democratic skew where the voting power shifts towards older people who generally entered society in better condition than young people are entering society today. Yeah. So I think that there is a fairness to it. The one thing I would say, though, that we need be aware of is that when I was 16, I was very heavily influenced on politics by what my parents thought. Same, same. How can you not be? And so I do think that it's not enough to simply lower the voting age. Although, having said that, I think maybe it might be different because social media, young people have so much access to so much information and we didn't really

have that growing up. But I think it's not enough to just lower the voting age. If you're lowering the voting age, you need to up engagement with young people in politics. Yeah, and also education, political literacy, media literacy. Yes, hire us for your schools. Play media storm every day in the morning at school. There was a play I wanted to plug, and before we get cracking on the episode. And it's not just because one of my many cousins is a part of the Akimbo Theatre that is putting it on. It's also a little bit of a media storm.

story. I actually wanted to put together like a beautiful whole audio special episode on it, but there's so much news right now. And so little time. There's so much news and so little time. But look, I love animation and I especially love Disney. Aesthetically, I've realized over time Disney might have been a bit of an asshole. And this story maybe feeds that because before Disney there was an animator, a woman called Lottie Reineger. and she created the world's first feature-length animation in 1926 over a decade before Disney claimed the title in 1937. No way.

Yeah. And it's not like he wasn't aware of her work. She used the same technology that Disney later patented while Lottie was busy fleeing the Nazis. So the animator, which is the name of the play, it uses Reineger's diary, it uses historical archives, and it uses the 1926. original animation that Lottie made that was long believed lost in the Second World War.

Wow, another story of a man stealing women's work. So if you want to go and see this and give her the credit that she deserves, then you can go and see the animator at Southwark Playhouse Borough on the 20th to the 30th of August in London. Thank you for that plug. Now on to Newswatch. I'll start with reporting on the doctor's strikes and what they tell us about class in society. Then I'll talk about a very misleading headline about New York's mayoral candidate Zoram Mandani

that has consequences that run much deeper. The Afghan data leak and the racist reporting that followed. Quickly over to Japan and the latest election. And we'll end with eyes on Palestine. Resident doctors have today voted to go ahead with strike action. Greedy, greedy, greedy, junior doctors. Since Mamdani's win, fear as multiculturalism turns to fundamentalism. Thousands of Afghans being brought to this country.

Sunsato has been campaigning on Japan First and anti-immigration platform. Welcome to Media Storms News Watch, helping you get your head around the headlines. I'm Matilda Mallinson. And I'm Helen Awadia. This week's Media Storms, Doctors Strike, Mamdani fights Islamophobia, Afghan data leak, and Japan's far right. Let's talk about the NHS Doctors Strike. Here's the story, according to the Telegraph, junior doctors earning £100,000 to strike over pay.

If we just remove the inaccurate parts of that headline, delete the term junior and delete the claim they earn 100K. Okay, that leaves us with Dr. Strike over pay. There you go. There's an accurate headline. Today we'll learn how to spot forced narratives in news like The Telegraph and then to ask whose narrative it is and why they're pushing it. Buckle up kids, classes in session.

The story. Resident doctors in England are planning a walkout for five consecutive days from the 25th of July. Now up to 30,000 doctors are withdrawing from non-emergency work in an act of strike. This has been organised by the British Medical Association. or the BMA, which is the professional union representing doctors in the UK. It's primarily over a pay dispute with the government. The BMA says that this strike is about fair pay for hard work and restoring respect for the profession.

They argue that doctors are being driven out of the NHS due to low morale, overwork and poor compensation. But health secretary, West Streeting, says the government, quote, cannot write a blank check, and he's called the strike deeply irresponsible. He says real-term pay rises will be offered gradually and they must be balanced with economic stability. Okay, got it. Now, I noticed that you said resident doctors, not junior doctors.

Why not junior doctors like the telegraph's headline? Resident doctors who make up almost 50% of the NHS medical workforce were until last year known as junior doctors, but this title was officially changed in September after a campaign to better reflect the skills and the responsibilities of doctors who often have over a decade, sometimes decades, of training.

Now, this category, it includes graduates straight out of medical school and goes all the way up to registrars, everything other than consultants. Wow, okay, I can see why they don't love the term junior doctors. Yeah, and this, okay, this is probably the pettiest part. The Telegraph, they just have refused to comply with this title change. their headlines almost all refer to the junior doctor's strike.

While pretty much all other news outlets, except for the spectator, correctly report on either the doctor's strike or the NHS doctor strike or the residence doctor strike. Here are a few examples of telegraph headlines from these past weeks. Junior doctor strikes will send NHS waiting lists soaring. Junior doctors strike to cost Britain almost £13 million a day. Junior doctors in line for £270 million pension boost under new pay demands. Junior doctors have built up a million pound strike war chest.

Wow, I mean, who knew that doctors were such terrible people? I know, the worst. So they're knowingly using language that's been ruled out as demeaning and that has been officially changed. And yeah, it really gives the public a false impression of the qualification level of the doctors striking. And that, I think, is deliberate. But, yeah, it's an inaccurate term. And so it's proof that we can use that this paper puts ideology over accuracy.

Now, it's very misleading when you pair the term junior doctor with the salary that the telegraph is claiming they enjoy. Right, 100K. I've seen that in a few headlines. You know, junior doctors make 100,000 pounds as if they're rolling in cash. Okay, what are the facts? So this claim, it is a gross distortion. The basic pay for a resident doctor in the last year started at 36.6K in their first year and it goes up to 70.4K for the longest training registrers in year 8 and beyond.

Basic pay refers to the standard hours contract. So by this measure, entry-level doctors earn about £18 an hour. Also, no one has outraged that bankers are walking into six-figure salaries in their 20s. Yes. I mean, I know this is the public sector, but. Shouldn't doctors be one of the most highly valued professions in terms of the difference health actually makes to our daily lives? Right. And that also means that it's a profession that comes at huge cost to the practitioner in terms of money and time. Context that the telegraph doesn't provide is that many first-year doctors in the UK carry a student debt in excess of 100K after seven plus years studying.

And yes, as you say, there should be a basic respect. in this conversation. The Telegraph actively undermines public respect for these doctors. They denigrate the role, not just by persistently using the term junior doctors, but they write, for example, an ST8 junior doctor, that's a year 8 resident doctor, can expect to earn 101,369 pounds per annum before finishing training. So aside from like the accuracy of that figure, the emphasis this is before finishing training.

It is also misleading because many resident doctors firstly have finished training and they are kept at that rank for years. But even if they aren't yet qualified, ST8 doctors have by this point been training in medicine for 16 years. They could perform a single-handed operation on this journalist's kid. They're also in their mid to late 30s, at least. Yeah, the headline kind of implies that these are like pre-teen, millionaires on the picket line. Also, the idea that junior doctors can expect to receive this

amount, only ST8 doctors at the highest paying trusts in the country earn anything like this figure. The 100K that the Telegraph headline implies all junior doctors earn, it only encapsulates the top 2.5%. Most UK doctors flee to Australia for better conditions. That, by the way, is something I remember the Telegraph complaining about. Oh, yeah. Look at this headline, January 2024, junior doctors planning to leave UK cost taxpayers 2.8 billion. Why do they think so many British doctors are fleeing to Australia? Yeah, how dare they leave? But God forbid we improve things so they stay. Okay, so to wrap this salary section, let's do an exercise in comparison.

If we take the telegraph's headline and compare it to a very similar one from The Times, right? The Times is also a right-leaning paper. It tends to be pro-business. But it does a better job of at least putting accuracy somewhere on the priority list. The Telegraph told its readers, Junior doctors earning 100K to strike over pay. The Times revealed striking resident doctors can earn more than 100K. That's quite a funny headline. They can earn more than 100K.

I could win the lottery. I mean, it should probably say 2% of them could earn over 100K or give a bit of a sense of proportion. But at least it's not a blatant lie. Yeah. Of course, we have a political spread in our papers, and I'm not saying papers shouldn't report these figures. They just shouldn't misreport them. Now, the final thing to understand about doctors' salary

is that doctors do often receive more than their basic pay, still not nearly 100K in most cases, but this is because they do overnight and overtime work. This is work that they often have to do whether they like it or not, because of chronic staffing shortages and not all of that overtime is paid at all. So the fact they have to work overtime is now being used against them

to imply that they're rolling in cash and ultimately argue against change. Yeah. That's kind of twisted. Twisted is the word. The telegraph is using twisted figures manipulating the public rather than informing them.

They make the headline number that of the top ranking outlier and disparagingly refer to those allegedly earning it as junior doctor. Now, I'm going to go into one other area of the strike in detail, and that's the striker's demands. The Telegraph describes the BMA's pay rise demands as a disgrace. They initially claimed doctors were calling for almost 30% on top of the 5.4% pay rise announced this year. This was inaccurate.

The BMA is calling for 29% instead of the 5.4% announced. and the Telegraph only corrected this after full fact, the fact checker, got in touch. The other thing to consider is that the BMA argues this is a pay restoration rather than a pay rise. They say that the value of resident doctor's pay has been eroded by inflation since 2008. And a 29% rise would simply restore 2008 real-term levels. A very different story. It is a very different story. Now, we should also qualify the BMA's assessment of pay erosion.

Their calculation is based on a measure of inflation called the Retail Price Index, or RPI, which includes housing costs, it includes interest on student loans, and it was actually ditched as a national statistic in 2013, as it often overstated inflation. So that figure is contestable, but it is important context. So look, it's a complicated debate. What we've talked about here barely scrapes this. surface. But that complexity should be conveyed in the coverage, not a black and white picture

painted through omission and flagrant exaggeration. Question. Do these articles feature actual junior doctors speaking? Great question, Helena. No. None of the telegraph articles spoke to a single striking resident doctor. For God's sake, that is literally the first rule of journalism. That's why we started Media Storm. It's so basic. Not speaking to the people involved is bad journalism. It prevents readers from putting themselves in the shoes of the people being reported on. It prevents empathy. And without empathy and debate, we end up with polarisation. Also, quoting the people involved doesn't mean that you are endorsing them. It's just good reporting.

Take, for example, The Guardian. They gathered firsthand statements from various stakeholders. and these do so much more to help you actually understand what's happening. Look, opinion is divided, even among junior doctors, although the vast majority who voted voted to strike. I've had my friends read out a few of these resident doctors' testimonies as reported in The Guardian. Many doctors come from privileged backgrounds and over the past decade have quietly accepted the erosion of our pay.

But for those of us from working class or state school backgrounds, the stakes are different. I can't rely on my parents to clear my student debt or help with a deposit or rent. I'm on my own. While some colleagues return from shifts to comfortable family owned homes, others go back to small, poorly furnished flats and wonder how we'll cover next month's bills. This is about fairness. I support the strikes wholeheartedly. I don't think it's reasonable to strike when we have so recently been given a significant race.

We also have added benefits. We cannot expect to have further. to have further raises of similar magnitude so quickly. No doctor wants to take strike action. It's a last resort and it's entirely within the government's hands to prevent these upcoming strikes. No other professional in any industry is paid less than their assistance, except doctors. We're simply asking for a first-year doctor who currently earns £17 per hour to be paid £22.50 per hour. Full pay restoration is a worthy goal.

Demanding it too quickly is unrealistic. Crucially, Wes Streeting is engaging constructively, showing willingness to invest in reform. Striking against a government that is finally trying to fix the NHS feels premature and counterproductive. Even that is so helpful. It shows the nuance of the situation and the rationale across all sides,

which don't rely on demonising the other, like the telegraphs version of events. Yeah, I feel like it really shows you you cannot understand the situation. without human testimony. Which is what the telegraph has omitted. Instead of letting the public come to their own informed conclusions, they're clearly pressing a narrative designed to erode public sympathy for doctors,

which is kind of a weird thing to do if you think about it. It is a weird thing to do. So look, let's talk about why they're doing that. Maybe it's concern for public finances. This is a time of economic hardship. And sadly, we can't have these social justice discussions in a vacuum. Changes have to be paid for. The Telegraph is very concerned about this.

They wrote, perhaps you remember, junior doctors strike to cost Britain almost £13 million a day. And yet, here are some other telegraph articles from the last few months that show a little bit less concern about public finances. How to Avoid Paying Higher Rate Tax, even if you earn 110,000 pounds. Eight ways to avoid inheritance tax. How to Shields. your wealth from all the tax rises. Rules for giving money to your children without paying inheritance tax. I gambled 1.5 million pounds on English wine. I've got to be a nutcase.

Fifteen ways to pay less tax in the UK in 2025. Get the gist. I've got to be a nutcase. Yeah, Telegraph writers, you are friggin' nutcases. Look, it tells us something about which kind of demographic the telegraph caters to which demographic they prioritise. It also reflects who owns the telegraph and who populates its senior staff. The Telegraph has been owned by the Barclay brothers, David and Frederick Barclay, for 20 years. Frederick has now survived his identical twin brother. But the Sunday Times Rich List in 2020 estimated their wealth at £7 billion. Their businesses have been repeatedly accused of tax avoidance.

also, by the way, own The Spectator. The other outlet that keeps calling these doctors junior doctors. Correct. And look, the paper's output, if we study it carefully, not that carefully, it tells us why these outlets feel the need to publish so much derogatory and inaccurate content about public sector workers on strike. They publish, by the way, in the exact same tone, whether it's doctors or any other workers striking. And the reason is revealed in the many, many articles. the paper has published

about a possible wealth tax labour has been considering. Here are some examples. A wealth tax will only make the Chancellor's problems worse. A wealth tax is a moral abomination. This is an envy tax, clobbering the already clobbered yet again. Oh, they're so clobbered.

The kind of people who say clobbered, I mean, that tells you a lot. Britain to lose more millionaires than any other country this year. The middle class have the most. to fear from Labor's wealth tax. Oh, no. What will all the middle-class people do without all the millionaires? Okay, but just quickly explain what the hell is this wealth tax? A wealth tax is a tax that works differently to income tax. Instead of taxing the fruits of our labour, it taxes the fruits of our pre-existing wealth,

like interest from savings we've got stored up, or capital gains when we sell an asset for more than we purchased it. The Telegraph, and likely it's wealthiest owners, wealthiest editors, are particularly stressed out. One might conclude, at this time of the risk of more taxing of wealth being introduced, we have a Labour government for the first time in a long time. We also have a desperate need to find more money in the national budget. Do we have a Labour government?

It's arguable this Labour government isn't exactly left-wing in their economics. Right. I mean, a few weeks ago, we reported on how the government was trying to slash disability benefits. They had to U-turn because of outrage from society, from their own backbenchers. At that time, we also talked about some pretty disgusting reporting coming from The Telegraph. And the Daily Mail. Also owned by a multi-billionaire. Sadly, some people, a minority, but a very, very powerful minority, would prefer that people with disabilities lose a truly life-saving,

couple of hundred pounds, then they lose a fraction of their exorbitant wealth. Or that we continue underpaying essential workers, even if it means they keep emigrating to Australia. Yeah. You know what? It's also probably why they're so terrified of 16-year-olds getting the vote. Can I read you quickly, the Telegraph's selection? Labour trying to rig system after handing 16-year-olds the vote. Meddling with the voting age will only harm. trust in British democracy. I'm 16 and I shouldn't be given the vote.

That's so good. Finally, the seats that Labor's teenage voters will steal from reform. There's nothing to steal. They don't have those seats yet. Yeah, no, 16-year-olds don't have shitloads of wealth that they will make all of their voting decisions on the basis of protecting. Pretty terrifying for some people that. To close, we'll hear from Mick Wheelan,

who is the head of the trade union, Asliff, a train driver. We had him on Media Storm's episode, Strikes, what have trade unions ever done for me? And he was quick to identify the role that class plays in distorting the accuracy of our news. Most people think that the right to strike is a human right, but the press are funded and their advertising comes from certain section of society, and they represent the policies of views,

the people that own their newspapers, the Barfie brothers, the Murdox in this world or whatever else, and we need to represent the media. Now, again, you know, I've got a lot of good friends to the media who worked in mainstream media and did carry out the policies of the papers they worked until they got the job that they wanted because that would you have to do sometimes to build a career and build a reputation. But even the major politicians, if you want to get elected, you have to call certain these papers, get them on side, get them supporting you, or you don't get into power.

So it's actually about the power of the voter anymore. It's about the power of the press. What I'm bringing to Newswatch this week is a headline that's very outwardly misleading but has consequences that run much deeper. It's from The New York Post. For those who don't know, the New York Post is an American conservative tabloid newspaper. The headline reads, Zoran Mandarney said NYPD shouldn't respond to domestic violence calls in resurfaced podcast interview.

Yeah, that sounds like God. Journalism. Someone's been digging through the podcast archives, trying to find any dirt. They've come up with Mamdani said police shouldn't respond to domestic violence calls. Yeah, look, this is a very scandalous headline. It's an obvious play by the New York Post to make Mandani out to be the big bad wolf. But first of all, some background. So in late June, Zohan Mandani won New York City's Democratic mayorial primary. So this is the race to become New York mayor and the winner of the Democratic primary is considered the strong favourite

to win the general election for mayor later this year because New York City is a firmly democratic-leaning city. Mamdani entered the campaign as a virtual unknown but he won a historic victory with a campaign that was focused on the cost of living a vision of free buses and free childcare, new apartments and a higher minimum wage. Sounds pretty blissful.

Yeah, you're telling me. me. So, Mamdani won over Andrew Cuomo, who is a former governor, son of a former mayor, presents the establishment vote. Oh, and what's that small thing? Oh, yeah, has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by about 15 women. Oh, my God, it's so predictable that I couldn't even, like, pretend to be surprised. Yeah, so this guy was trying to make a political comeback after resigning as governor of New York four years ago due to said multiple sexual harassment accusations. Okay. Anyway, back to Zoran Mandani.

Mamdani is expected to be elected as mayor of New York in November, and if he is, he becomes the city's first Muslim mayor. More on that later, but first, back to this headline. Zoran Mamd said NYPD shouldn't respond to domestic violence calls. The New York Post has taken an interview that Mamdani did in 2020 on the podcast, Immigrantly. Side note, I've done that podcast. Woo-whoop.

Scroll back to listen to my interview. Helena and Zoran. I know. We're going to be best friends. Okay, anyway, on the podcast, host Sadia Khan sits down with Mamdani just after his win in the Democratic primary

for New York State Assembly in 2020. So that's like the lower house of local government. They discussed identity, policing, activism and housing justice, among other things. And they spoke about how domestic abuse survivors

can best access support. Mamdani advocated for more effective responses to domestic abuse than the NYPD, calling for trained mental health professionals, social workers and crisis intervention teams who can meet survivors with compassion and care. It was part of a wider questioning by Mamdani as to whether law enforcement, often lacking in trauma-informed training, should be the default responders to such deeply sensitive situations.

So he's not so much saying police shouldn't respond to domestic abuse calls as he's saying other better people should. Exactly. This article decides to lead with Zora Maldani said NYPD shouldn't respond to domestic violence calls. It purposefully strips away any context. A true reflection of the podcast episode would be Zora and Mamdani advocates for more compassionate responses to domestic abuse survivors. This is such a misleading headline, but we all know that headlines are where a lot of misinformation is spread. And one of the reason is that the journalist who did the research and wrote the article often doesn't write the headline itself.

Was the article at least accurate? No. First of all, it's a very short article, so there's not really any space for nuance. But second of all, any quotes that are given are positioned in a way to make it seem like Mandani is denigrating the NYPD. The article reads, The 33-year-old's democratic socialist said that the NYPD shouldn't respond to domestic violence calls

due to fears of escalation by New York's finest. I know New York's finest is a common nickname for the NYPD, but like, it's so obvious. And of course there's no... Of course the article's really, really short because if they included any actual detail, then the lie behind the report would be immediately exposed.

Exactly. Now look, this is... itself is not exactly shocking. A completely misleading headline in a tabloid happens. A piece by a right-wing publication designed to make a left-wing person look bad happens. It's the far-reaching consequences I want to focus on. Firstly, the consequence for domestic abuse survivors. Misinformation like this hurts survivors. There will be plenty of people who read only this headline, not that reading the article would really help them in this case, but who read only this headline, some survivors themselves and think, oh wow, the likely to be New York

Mayor doesn't support me, doesn't want the police to respond to my pleas for help. This article also had such a good opportunity to talk about better outcomes for domestic abuse survivors and instead it just decided to exploit a complex issue to manufacture outrage. It chose to silence real solutions and actually actively derail progress towards real solutions. and deliberately distort a nuanced conversation on public safety. But the other reason I flagged this for Newswatch is because of its carelessness and callousness. In the run-up to the mayoral race,

and when Mamdani won the mayoral primary, what followed was some of the most avert, rampant, and public Islamophobia we've seen for a long time. Yeah, this was disgusting. A few examples, an Andrew Cuomo affiliated group lengthened and darkened Mandami's beard in an advert. There were efforts to associate Mamdani with anti-Semitism. For example, Kirsten Gillibrand, a democratic senator from New York,

went on the radio to claim Mamdami had raised concern among Jewish New Yorkers and made references to global jihad, whatever that means, with no proof to back it up. She was forced to apologise. But then, once Mamdani won, the floodgates open. High-profile figures tweeted bare-faced Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred. Brandon Gill, a representative from Texas, posted a video of Mandani eating biryani with his hand, which is a very normal and traditional custom from around the world, by the way.

And he wrote, civilised people in America don't eat like this. If you refuse to adopt Western customs, go back to the third world. Andy Ogles, another Republican congressman, called for Mamdani citizenship to be withdrawn, a new front in the Republican War on everything. Marjorie Taylor Green posted a picture of the Statue of Liberty cloaked in a knickab. There were AI-generated images of Muslim people

like overrunning Times Square and praying with people saying, this is the future of New York City, it will transform into a Sharia law city and we really need to shut down the border. Because a Muslim man, that isn't the running for mayor. A Muslim American man.

I don't need to come up with a comment on this. Those speak for themselves. And here's where the headline I talked about comes in. The media has a responsibility to inform, not in flame. And reductive clickbait, like this New York Post article I flagged, plays right into the hands of this Islamophobia. They add fuel to the fire. The article may not specifically be an Islamophobic one,

But there was a very malicious narrative that was being spread about Mamdani in the run-up to his win. And that was that he was going to gut police funding and dismantle the NYPD. George Santos, former New York Republican representative, because he was expelled from Congress for wire fraud, no less, tweeted about Mamdani's potential win, This man is a danger to society and a menace towards law enforcement. I have spoken to several law enforcement leaders and they have grave concerns

that the NYPD would suffer a massive exodus. And so, headlines that prey on these fears, like the one about the NYPD not dealing with domestic abuse survivors because they're not trained to, simply fall right into the hands of misinformation. Less and less there is a need for racists to disguise their politics as anything other. than racist. It would, until quite recently, have been coined in different language. Now it is

right there out in the open for us all to see. And it is a reminder why we do what we do. The fight here is against racism, bigotry, fascism. And that is a slide that our society is really, really vulnerable to right now. And I know you said with that first headline on Mamdani, where this began, the story about, oh, Mamdani doesn't want police to respond to domestic abuse calls. That is not overtly racist. But I think it is, actually. There is a very populist-Islamophobic trope of Muslim men, Arab men, being predatory, particularly to white Western women. And this is clearly playing on that false narrative to get clicks and to push a political agenda

that we are seeing more and more how sinister it is. Very true. And there have just been no consequences for this avert Islamophobia. You know, no one's been forced to resign. There's been very few apologies. And what this media storm teaches me is that Islamophobia is truly one of the most socially permitted forms of bigotry in the Western world. We spoke about this on a series four episode about Islamophobia with our guest, Rizwana Hamid. She is an award-winning journalist and the director of the Centre for Media Monitoring, which promotes accurate, fair and responsible reporting of Muslims and Islam. I just want to play a clip from this episode because it's so relevant. So here's what she said. When it comes to online news, almost 60% of the stories around Muslims and Islam are negative. In broadcast, it's almost 50%. You know, over a third misrepresent or generalise about Muslims and Islam. And unfortunately, the theme under which we're covered is that of extremism and terrorism. And so it's a very distorted

image of who Muslims are and what the religion is. The drip-drip narratives that come out, not just off the press, but what politicians spout over the years has given carte blanche to people to be Islamophobic and not be held to account. The narrative, I think, since 9-11 that has been out in the public domain, you know, tropes like Islam is a threat to the West, that Islamic values aren't compatible with Western values, that Muslims are terrorists, you know, Muslims are misogynistic and all these tropes. And whereas they existed on the dark corners of the web, maybe a decade ago, on far-right platforms, we've seen those slowly being mainstreamed.

That was from our episode, Bigotry and Bad Information. Scroll back on our feed to listen. Let's take a quick break. The Hulu original series Murdoch Death and the Family dives into secrets, deception, murder, and the fall of a powerful dynasty. Inspired by shocking actual events and drawing from the hit podcast, this series brings the drama to the screen like never before. Starring Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette and Jason Clark.

Watch the Hulu original series Murdoch Death in the Family. Streaming October 15th on Disney Plus. Stop leaving savings behind at the pump. Get up to 7 cents per liter in value every time you fill up at Petro Canada. That's 3 cents per liter in instant savings plus 20% more points when you link an eligible RBC card to your Petro points. Find out more at RBC.com slash Petro dash Canada. Conditions apply. Welcome back to Media Storm's News Watch.

Now, a truly shocking story broke last week where we found out that the names, contact information and other personal details of about 25,000 Afghans, people who worked closely with the UK before the Taliban seized power in 2021. And the details of some of their family members were accidentally disclosed by a British soldier in emails in February 2022. The leak of the vote.

vast, highly sensitive database was not discovered until August 23, where it was mentioned in a Facebook group. About 100,000 people were put at risk when wider family members were included. Now, the UK government at this point, the Conservatives under Rishi Sunak, took action to get the Facebook post removed, but journalists became quickly aware of the breach, prompting the government to take an extraordinary court injunction to stop the data leak going public. The judge went further, granting the government a super injunction, a mechanism which prevents disclosure of the very existence of the injunction itself. They said this was necessary in order to prevent the Taliban from learning about the data breach

and potentially acquiring the data, putting those affected at risk of being killed or severely mistreated. A super injunction is basically a gagging order of a gagging order. Yeah. Now, what was the government's policy response? A response, by the way, that is unprecedented in being hidden from Parliament, the press and the public. Conservative ministers created the Afghanistan response route, or A.R. To relocate thousands of Afghans who were at risk to the UK. The gagging order meant that both the data breach and the mitigation scheme remain.

hidden, despite its size and cost, until the near two-year legal battle was brought to a close in the High Court. Now, on the same day that we found out about all of this last week, the Defence Secretary announced that the ARR had been closed. It is unclear from the judgment how many people were relocated solely as a result of the data breach. It's estimated about 900 people and about 3,000 relatives were flown to the UK under this scheme. In total, via a number of other schemes that were not secret, around 35,000 Afghans have so far been relocated to the UK. But the numbers are unclear and misreported.

What is also unclear is how many thousands or millions of pounds this scheme cost. But these two elements, the number of people brought to the UK, and the cost of this scheme were the two parts of the whole story that made the most headlines. Often I think these numbers are pretty hard to grasp and they sort of need a sense of proportion. A few thousand Afghans bought over by this scheme. 35,000 Afghans in total,

just as a point of comparison, via the Ukrainian resettlement scheme that we set up in response to Russia's invasion, 197,000 Ukrainians were bought in the first year and a half. OK, the British media's reporting on this story was, in my eyes, disgraceful. It was as I was reading the details of the appalling Afghan data leak and the endangering of tens of thousands, maybe 100,000 Afghan lives, that I got the BBC News Alert. Breaking news.

Thousands of Afghans relocated to UK under secret government scheme after defence data breach. I thought, wait. That's not the main story. And I looked around. The FT started its report. The UK government set up a secret multi-billion pound scheme to relocate thousands of Afghans to Britain. The BBC, the FT, and basically every British outlet, it turns out,

have taken a story about the UK government endangering tens of thousands of Afghans, abandoning most of them and covering it up. And they've made that a story about how a few thousand Afghans were breaching our borders. These headlines also imply that the secrecy of the relocation scheme is some sort of lefty conspiracy to bring in migrants when no one is looking instead of a gagging order designed to hide an embarrassing data leak.

This is sensationalist racist reporting and it entirely misses the point. And that line you read out from the Financial Times, from the F.T, the UK government set up a secret multi-billion pound scheme. A couple of lines later in their article, they say, the secret scheme has cost 400 million pounds so far. So not multi-billion. No, not multi-billion. That's so true. The FT also goes on to say, the revelations come at a time when Britain's public finances are under heavy strain, and the anti-immigration Reform UK opposition party is leading the country's main establishment parties in the polls. Okay, so then make sure you're being accurate about your figures and your numbers.

Yeah. And again, it just shows that we are way more concerned with the fiscal cost of this episode to Brits than the deadly cost of this episode to Afghans. And you know what? There is proof of how skewed these reports are because a Times reporter published her personal testimony of what happened when she was given the gagging order by the government after cottoning onto the data breach.

This is what the Times' Larissa Brown wrote. The Afghans had their world turned upside down by the West with the failed Afghanistan war and the disastrous withdrawal in August 2021. Then, after all that, they had their lives needlessly put at risk by the very people they hoped would protect them. Absolutely.

That's the story we should have told. Finally, a story from Japan this week, where elections saw the Liberal government lose its majority and unexpected gains made by the far right. For three years, the fringe Sinsato opposition party held just one seat in Japan's 248 seat upper house. But on Sunday, they emerged as well. one of the biggest winners of Japan's election, walking away with 14 seats.

And they did this on a campaign mantra, Japanese first. But also this summer, Japan participated in World Refugee Week for the first time since it was founded in 1998. The woman piloting that initiative is a media storm listener, journalist Shuri Clark. She shared her thoughts with us. Hi Shori, welcome to Media Storm. Tell us, how did you feel about Sunday's election results? As a mixed-laced Japanese person, it was really scary to see a party with a Japanese-fast agenda to gain so many seats. When I think about the immigrants living in Japan right now, it really breaks my heart.

Also, this far-right party's definition of Japanese feels really vague, and it made me feel like one more people could end up being excluded. Why do you think the far right is seeing this surge in Japan? I think they used people's fear to create anger to attack minorities. Japan has been stuck in a long recession and life is getting harder for many people. At the same time, there's been a big, increase in tourism. And this is sometimes causing friction. And also some Asian countries that many people in Japan used to look down on are now catching up economically. This might

be causing the fear that they could end up being the ones look down on next. Immigration is also increasing, but it's still just 3% of the country's population. But I think this kind of anxiety has led to misplaced anger and being directed at immigrants who are just trying to live their lives in Japan, often working at lower wages than Japanese people. Do you think the media has played any role? Japanese media still tend to fall into this oversimplified divide between foreigner and Japanese, without recognizing that there are Japanese people with all kind of background and You also don't really see immigrants being portrayed as a part of Japanese society.

Right before the election, when it looked like Sanseido was going to win big, a few mainstream media started doing fact-checking and correcting misinformation that was being spread about immigrants and other issues. I thought that was quite good, but it seems like a lot of people who supported the Far Light Party trusted what they did. trusted what they saw on social media more than what came from mainstream media. You helped to pilot Japan's first ever participation in Refugee Week this year. What did it reveal about refugee solidarity in Japan? Japan accept barely few refugees. In 2024, it was less than 200 people.

So a lot of people in Japan see refugee as something really distant, something that has nothing to do with their own lives. I think a lot of people just assume refugees are kind of scary without really knowing anything about them. But in the same time, Tomo Ikegami, who organized Refugee Week in Japan, said there were many warm response from the public to the Refugee Week. There is also a very popular festival called the Refugees and Migrants Festival,

where people come together through food, music and craft. So I feel solidarity is growing. Many people want to know about refugees and live together in Japanese society. This gives me hope. Time for Eyes on Palestine. I wanted to bring this headline to Eyes on Palestine from Sky News.

Israel Defence Forces admits technical error after Israeli missile killed 10 people, including six children at a water collecting point in Gaza. I mean, there's so many reasons why I want to talk about this headline. But first, the context, on the 13th of July, a strike on a water distribution point in Nuzerat refugee camp killed 10 people, including six children, and left another 17 wounded. Now, Israeli forces said that it had intended to hit an Islamic jihad militant, but a technical error caused the missile to miss its target. This headline parrots the worst excuses from Israeli forces.

And you know how we always talk about the media being able to parrot terrible lines by putting them in inverted commas? Yeah. They didn't even use inverted commas in this one. Yeah, it says Israel Defense Forces admits technical. error after Israeli missile killed 10 people. It doesn't say Israeli defense forces claim technical error caused. Exactly. It is taking the Israeli forces word as gospel as the truth. And it is absolutely not holding anybody accountable for the deaths of six children. So sad. The article then goes on to quote the IDF before quoting anyone from the refugee camp

or any emergency aid workers. It quotes, the IDF said the incident is under review, adding that it works to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians as much as possible and regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians. It is absolutely insane to include that quote and to not give any wider context to just how many civilians have died in Gaza. By the way, some people are saying 64,000, 80,000. You know, I'm noticing Sky News is particularly bad when it comes to this issue of parroting Israeli military propaganda as news. We saw it with the killing of the 15 medics in Gaza, which we talked about on several episodes. Sky News continued to publish Israeli lies, which were like falsified the next day by new evidence. Even after one lie and another had been revealed.

they continue to publish the military's excuses for what ultimately turned out to be a targeted mass murder of 15 paramedics. And not only was there missing context, as I said, about just how many civilians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. There's also a lack of context in noting that Israel has one of the most advanced militaries

on earth with incredibly sophisticated technology. So are we seriously, nearly two years on, still doing this we were only trying to attack Hamas line when we have seen thousands of documented civilian deaths this both sidesism is striking again and it is completely obstructing the truth but there's no both sidesism because you cannot get the side of the children who've been killed and of course the wider context here

is that this is one of a string of daily deadly mass killings at aid collections where Palestinians are forced together by the starvation crisis that has been imposed by Israel's blockade. Just a quick summary of where that stands today. The recorded death toll from malnutrition has just passed 100. But that doesn't include the countless dying, according to medics, from injuries or surgeries that they would likely have survived, if not for their incredibly weakened states. Mothers are unable to breastfeed in many cases. Parents are giving children sugar mixed in water just to satiate some of their

desperate hunger. They are ordering children not to play, to conserve energy, and Guards the Civil Defence Agency said infant deaths caused by starvation are alarmingly on the rise. This is happening now. There are protests every Saturday in London and many, many cities around the world. There is a flotilla of civilians, again, less famous than Greta Thunberg, but just as determined to break the siege when their governments do nothing. Don't stay silent. The best time to speak up is now.

Media Stormers, Helena and I are about to take a bit of a summer break. However, we have some content lined up, some archive material, interview material, investigative material. And there will definitely be at least one week where we're not putting out an episode. But hold on, we'll be back with our usual program before the month of August is out. If you want to support MediaStorm, you can do so on Patreon for less than a cup of coffee a month. The link is in the show notes and a special shout-out to everyone in our Patreon community already. We appreciate you so much. If you enjoyed this episode, please send it to someone.

is still the best way for a podcast to grow. So please do tell your friends and obviously leave us a five-star rating and a review. You can follow us on social media at Matilda Mal at Helena Wadia and follow the show via at MediaStorm Pod. MediaStorm is an award-winning podcast produced by Helena Wadier and Matilda Mallinson. The music is by Samfire.