Katie Hopkins, the controversial commentator, was detained in South Africa earlier this year for “spreading racial hatred.”
But, the headline on the UK Mirror‘s online story about her detention was inaccurate, Hopkins complained, and UK press regulator the Independent Press Standards Organisation agreed.
Hopkins didn’t disagree with the fact she was stopped because of accusations of “spreading racial hatred” — she even tweeted about the detention. And she took ketamine for a dislocated shoulder.
The Mirror‘s Feb. 6 headline was “Katie Hopkins detained in South Africa for ‘spreading racial hatred after taking ketamine while collapsed in the street.” Hopkins complained because she wasn’t detained for taking ketamine, but rather for “spreading racial hatred.”
The Mirror offered to change its headline and post a clarification, but Hopkins wasn’t satisfied.
IPSO reviewed and agreed the headline was inaccurate because it suggested “causality.”
“While the article itself stated the correct position, the promotional headline had given the significantly mistleading impression that the reason for the detention had been the consumption of ketamine,” IPSO found.
Because the Mirror changed its headline and posted a clarification about the change and true reason for detention, IPSO didn’t require the newspaper to do anything else to resolve the complaint. iMediaEthics has written to the Mirror and tweeted Hopkins.
The Mirror‘s clarification, posted just below its headline online, reads:
“A previous version of this article suggested that Katie Hopkins was stopped from leaving South Africa because of the consumption of Ketamine. We are happy to clarify that Ms Hopkins was detained for spreading racial hatred, which took place after the Ketamine incident.”
Hopkins was fired by LBC Radio last year after tweeting “we need a final solution” after the Manchester bombing at an Ariana Grande concert.
She was also ordered to pay food writer Jack Monroe last year after being found to have libeled Monroe with tweets. In 2016, the Mail Online had to pay two Muslim brothers over one of Hopkins’ columns claiming they were extremists with links to al Qaeda.