Hundreds Complain About The Sun‘s Controversial Column About Muslim Newsreader

More than 800 people have formally complained about a newspaper column criticising a journalist for wearing a hijab while covering last Friday's terrorist attack in Nice. The column in The Sun yesterday, written by the paper’s former editor Kelvin MacKenzie, questioned whether Muslim journalist Fatima Manji should have been allowed to front coverage of the attack on Channel 4 News. The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), the press regulator, said it would assess the complaints. Channel 4 News said MacKenzie's comments were “completely unacceptable” and were "arguably tantamount to inciting religious and even racial hatred," the BBC reported. In the column, headlined “Why did C4 have a presenter in a hijab front coverage of a Muslim terror attack?", MacKenzie appeared to suggest that Manji’s religion affected her ability to report the news. MacKenzie said he could "hardly believe [his] eyes" when he saw Manji. He wrote: “Was it appropriate for her to be on camera when there had been yet another shocking slaughter by a Muslim? Was it done to stick one in the eye of the ordinary viewer who looks at the hijab as a sign of the slavery of Muslim women by a male-dominated and clearly violent religion?” Immediately after the broadcast, Manji thanked viewers for the support she received over her first appearance and said she’d been scheduled to appear on the show for a while.

Then when the offensive column was published yesterday, people came out in full force to back her up on Twitter.

Some also questioned the judgement of The Sun's editors. The newspaper said it was making "no comment" on the issue, the BBC reported.

The complaints Ipso received were related to the column's accuracy, harassment and discrimination, categories laid out in the organisation's Editor's Code of Practice that journalists must follow.