Sir Ian Blair's comments on the Soham murders

[Meanoldmummy]

Sir Ian Blair has come under fire this morning for claiming that the massive media coverage of the Soham murders constitutes "insititutional racism". He told the Metropolitan Police Authority that "almost nobody" could understand why the case had received so much attention. He also asked whether the Metropolitan Police devoted the same resources to murders of white/non-white victims.

He highlighted the difference in coverage of the recent murders of white lawyer Tom ap Rhys Pryce and Asian builders' merchant Balbir Matharu.

The Metropolitan Police's Richard Barnes has angrily rejected the remarks and called them "insensitive and shocking".

What do you think?

did anyone see a documentary last year about a childs torso that was found in the thames? there was a big investigation into who he was and what had happened to him.he had been brought to england from africa(sorry don't know which country) and murdered in a ritual killing.
That didn't make the papers and it was simply horrific.

I agree with you, saadia.

I live in London and I remember when the Stephen lLwrence case first hit the screens and it was on London Tonight or some other regional programme. It wasn't until the parents fought for the deserved media attention that it actually got it (albeit most memorably from the DM )

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alexmum - that storey was int he national papers and on the national news. I remember it. they thought it was some ritual killings.

i apologise .i thought it hadn't made the news.

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No worries. I just remember reading about it. There are several links to it on the BBC website. Very sad. Also can't believe that it is so long ago - 2001!

did you see the documentarty hulababy?

There was quite a lot of coverage of the torso in the Thames, and more than one follow-up documentary about Muti medicine and Muti killings. There were also complaints from the African immigrant community that the coverage was prejudicial against them because this particular style of ritual killing is an African phenomenon. In this case it was a different hook - it wasn't the "it could be you" factor, it was the "this is exotic and doesn't usually happen here" (like the whale!) factor. It would have been difficult to have had the same level of conventional emotive coverage as the Soham killings because the victim had no known name, no face to show the public, no family and was already dead when the media became involved.

bumping this in case anyone who wasn't about this morning is interested.

Apart from being incredibly insensitive to the Soham families, Blair's got a damn cheek citing that case. The police wanted all the publicity they could get because the poor girls were missing. The force did everything they could to encourage more and more coverage in an attempt to find the girls.

Bet his real reason for having a go at the media over Soham, actually, is because the chief constables got it in the neck for being incompetent.

Of course there is a debate to be had about news values. But using Soham to make that point was bloody stupid.

I agree with that too. But is it worrying that the media hone in on the crimes that white middle class people can relate to?

Edam - yes, er the police's wish to see maximum coverage! The man needs a decent press rep!

RE the poor child in the Thames - as well as a very excellent documentary, it also sparked a media frenzy about completeley spurious reports about 300 missing boys in London having disappeared in the context of apparantly widespread human sacrifices in African churches. After reams of hysterical - and very racist print, with politicians and spokespeople saying 'multiculturalism has gone too far, we need to stick up for our British custome' (Evening Standard) as if African people's were quite cool about the kililng of their kids.

Of course it was all disproved (with very LITTLE media coverage), the 300 boys were found to be a result of educational tracking incompetencies, and NO evidence was found to suggest that any human sacrifice had been attempted anywhere beyond the poor boy in the Thames..

And no-one apologised for the 'multi-culturalism gone too far' tirade by peple who had believed this macabre sensationalist nonsense, hook line and sinker.

I certainly agree that there should have been an apology for that. It was an unforgiveable remark.

You wonder if people in those positions ever stop to think about the victim's families before they open their big mouths? OK, so he has his views on racism, but to use the murder of 2 young girls to explain his point is appalling.

Is it time for this man to just go? Or at least get some decent training on how to deal with the media?

I think using murdered children to make ANY point is a bit crass. If he wants to talk about differential reporting of crime, he could have thought it out more carefully

Very, very interesting feature in teh Standard today pointing out that in the fortnight after Tom ap Rhys Pryce's murder, the met issued 24 press releases. After the murder of Balbir Matharu, they issued seven. And they gave misleading information after Balbir's murder, did not issue a photograph etc etc. The newspapers cannot print what they do not know about.
And yes, the police actively wanted and encouraged the coverage of the Soham murders. For Blair to turn around and use this as stick to beat the media with is intolerable and unforgiveable. He is a useless man IMO and has a lot to answer for still over the (racist?) police killing after the London bombings. He is struggling for survival IMO.