By a margin of more than two to one, the British public believes the legacy media’s muted coverage of the United Kingdom’s grooming gangs scandal was due to political correctness. Over 43 percent of respondents to a poll by Friderichs Advisory Partners and J.L. Partners agree that “the media did not cover the grooming scandal because of political correctness,” with only 18 percent disagreeing. This consensus extends across all societal groups, including Labour and “BAME” (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) voters.
Trust in traditional media to cover the grooming gangs scandal, which involved gangs of mostly Pakistani-heritage Muslim men abusing thousands of mostly white working-class girls, is alarmingly low. Britain’s de facto state broadcaster, the BBC, only garners a “great deal” of trust from 14 percent of respondents, with nearly half (48 percent) expressing little to no trust. Newspapers fare even worse, with just eight percent having “a great deal” of trust and 58 percent distrusting them to varying degrees.
Even journalists credited with helping to blow the lid on the scandal, such as Andrew Norfolk of The Times, admit to dragging their heels on covering the story. “I didn’t want the story to be true because it made me deeply uncomfortable,” he later confessed.
“The suggestion that men from a minority ethnic background were committing sex crimes against white children was always going to be the far right’s fantasy story come true,” he added, recalling his “liberal angst kicked instinctively into top gear.”
Over six in ten Britons (61 percent) told pollsters, “it does not matter if it upsets people, media outlets need to
cover the grooming gang scandal”, against just 27 percent who said “it is damaging to social cohesion and race relations for media outlets to cover the grooming gangs scandal.”
BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT.
Despite initially being uncovered some time ago, grooming gangs are back in the news due to Elon Musk, Nigel Farage, and others pressing the issue on social media. Farage is by far the most popular figure currently discussing the gangs, polling well ahead of Musk and imprisoned anti-grooming gangs activist Tommy Robinson.
Many foreign-born or dual-national groomers have now completed their sentences but are still in Britain, undeported. Others have never been charged. Moreover, no public official has been indicted for having enabled or turned a blind eye to the gangs.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s governing Labour Party initially resisted reopening the issue, rejecting calls for a national inquiry and suggesting a “far-right bandwagon” drove the outcry. However, his government has now begun offering limited concessions.