The Daily Mail has removed an article about illegal immigration after a publicly-aired fact check went viral.
Foreign features writer Andrew Malone penned the “devastating report” of 300,000 illegal migrants living in a French suburb last week, but a fact check by Marwan Muhammad disproved almost every line in it.
One of the main errors was that the reporter confused Saint Denis the city with Seine Saint Denis the département – which includes 40 cities over a radius of 236 kilometres squared.
His claim of 300,000 illegal migrants living there was also easily disproved. Only 110,000 people actually live in Saint Denis, and even French parliamentarians say they are unable to know for sure how many illegal immigrants are living there.
The article also claims there are 160 “official” mosques in Saint Denis, when there are actually 12.
As Marwan Muhammad says, “from the very first line to the last, (the) article is a sum of lies, inaccuracies, factual mistakes and data/quotes with no sources.
“If this is your definition of journalism, then don’t be suprised when people call you a racially obsessed tabloid, with no ethics”.
Read the thread in full below:
Hello @MailOnline. I’ve read your “devastating” article on “illegal migrants in Saint Denis”. We too in France have tabloïds who couldn’t care less about the truth, but I really have to say: you’re in a league of your own. Everything in your paper is wrong. A fact checking: ?? pic.twitter.com/zWiqlffxsP
— Marwan Muhammad (@_MarwanMuhammad) August 4, 2018
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