Inventing homophobic bogeymen

By Mollie

A couple of weeks ago, The Observer (U.K.) ran a brief editorial arguing that the Anglican Church “must not be complicit in gay persecution in Africa.” The editorial began with the doctrinal statement “Homosexuality is not a sin or a crime.” Normally we don’t concern ourselves too much with the house editorials but this one is different.

The piece quotes an Anglican bishop of in Nigeria saying that homosexuals are “inhuman, insane, satanic and not fit to live.”

Only problem? He never said it. The quote, which originated back in 2007 with the News Agency of Nigeria, was widely distributed by United Press International. At the time, the bishop strongly denied having said it. And the reporter admitted that the quote was false. The News Agency apologized and UPI pulled the story off the wire.

So when the story appeared in this 2010 Observer editorial, folks around the world alerted them to their error. It’s what happened next that boggles the mind. The readers’ editor concedes that the reporter said the quote was false. And he concedes that the bishop denied making the statement.

But then he says that this does “nothing to clarify a confused situation.” The readers’ representative says the story stands.

How, can you ask, is this possible? Well, a blog called “Akinola Repent,” which opposes the former Anglican Primate of the Church of Nigeria (the Most Rev. Peter Akinola), speculates that the confession might have come at gunpoint or something. So if you believe that conspiracy theory, and if the bishop was lying when he denied the statement, and if you did precisely no other research on fairly accessible paper trails and interviews from the time of the brouhaha, well, then, you might let the story stand, too. But is this appropriate journalistic practice for Stephen Pritchard, president of the Organization of News Ombudsmen, and a readers’ editor since 2001?

In his note, he also makes it seem as if the bishop is somehow to blame for being misquoted:

So the bishop apparently denies calling homosexuals “insane”, but appears to stop short at issuing a full-scale condemnation of the sentiments expressed in the disputed statement. And this is where the problem lies. Until such a statement is made, the UPI piece will still be quoted all over the internet by those wishing to expose homophobia in the African church. Consequently, it is still accessible to reporters and leader writers trying, in a hurry, to make sense of this disturbing story.

Unbelievable.

read the rest here.