IPSO found that the Telegraph had reported on the Thames Water findings in a way that was “inaccurate, misleading, or distorted”.
Another right-wing paper has been found to have made a misleading claim when it comes to migrants.
IPSO, the newspaper regulator, has found that The Telegraph’s sums to conclude that “one in 12 in London” is an illegal migrant were inaccurate. The misleading claim was also picked up by the Daily Mail which tried to say that it was fine for it to use the claim without checking because it was “reasonable for it to assume the central premise was accurate”.
The paper’s front-page article in January relied upon a study commissioned by Thames Water and obtained under freedom of information laws.
Press Gazette reports: “The analysis found that there were between 390,355 and 585,533 illegal migrants in the Thames Water London Water Resource Zone.
“The Telegraph used these figures and a population estimate of 7,044,667 to say “that would mean one in 12 of the capital’s population is an illegal migrant”.
“However IPSO noted that by The Telegraph’s own admission, this calculation was done inaccurately.”
IPSO ruled: “It had failed to add the estimated migrant population to the overall population it had based the article upon.
“In addition, it had not taken account of the fact, in its reporting, that the report was based on the population of the Thames Water London Water Resource Zone – rather than of London itself.”
IPSO found that the Telegraph had reported on the Thames Water findings in a way that was “inaccurate, misleading, or distorted”.
It’s important for media organisations to recognise that printing false and misleading claims in newspapers has real life consequences for communities.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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