Are there no depths to which these people will stoop?

Some stories just subliminally scream "bollocks" from the opening word. Today's Sun "exclusive", claiming that the Taliban have now sank to the depths of making "HIV bombs", by putting needles used for injecting heroin into their improvised explosive devices already seems unlikely. Then it reveals the source for this literal bombshell:

The tactic, used in the Afghan badlands of Helmand, was exposed by Tory MP and ex-Army officer Patrick Mercer.

Senior backbencher Mr Mercer said yesterday: "Are there no depths to which these people will stoop? This is the definition of a dirty war."

Speaking of stooping to depths, this would be the same Patrick Mercer that continued to work with the discredited Glen Jenvey for 2 months after he had sold the "TERROR TARGET SUGAR" story to the paper, a report which he had entirely concocted himself after posting on the Ummah.com web forum. Mercer gave credibility to Jenvey's "investigations" by helping him make contact with various tabloid newspapers, many of which it should be doubted were anything approaching accurate. When Mercer has been involved in such dubious actions in the past, that on its own should put newspapers on alert as to how reliable such completely unverifiable claims are. That it also involves much the same tall tales that Jenvey pushed ought to be another red line, but after all, it is the Sun we're talking about here.

Regardless of its veracity, the story has now been churned all over the globe and is the paper's second most read page, a position usually held by either sport or something involving sex. Perhaps those paywalls aren't the best idea after all? Shame you have to print such fabulous nonsense to get any such attention.

Update: Those more diligent, less dismissive and with more time than myself looked rather further into this, including this parish's own Richard Bartholomew, Tabloid Watch, but most crucially Jeff Schogol, who asked Patrick Mercer, the ISAF in Afghanistan and the Joint IED Defeat Organization for more details.

As could have been expected, Mercer's words, however the Sun got hold of the story, had been rather sexed up. Talking to Stars and Stripes he said it wasn't even a weapon as such, with the needles and razor blades most likely put in position around "dummy" devices. This was naturally translated by Tom Newton Dunn into "if the bomb goes off, the needles become deadly flying shrapnel". Mercer learned about these "HIV bombs" from bomb disposal technicians training to go to Afghanistan, not from those actually in the field, and while he didn't ask whether the Taliban had actually used such devices, he "got the impression" they were.

Predictably, the ISAF themselves had heard absolutely nothing about any such bombs, not even the dummy devices Mercer had thought were being used. "No reports, no intel, nothing" is a fairly good summary. Likewise, the Joint IED Defeat Organisation had no confirmed reports, but said it wasn't unusual for the Taliban to use "anti-tamper" devices, which are most likely not even closely related to used hypodermic needles.

Worth noting is that the quote from Deborah Jack at the end of the Sun's piece, making clear that catching HIV from a disposed needle is about as likely as the Sun not embellishing a story, was added after I first made this post, presumably for the print edition and most likely by a sub-editor who felt it needed a little balance. As the Rumor Doctor has it, "more like an enemy propaganda campaign than a widespread new tactic", and if there's one thing the Sun has always been good at, it's running propaganda campaigns.

Well, that's that then.

A to scale approximation of the apology compared to the original story.

Another week, another "apology" from the Sun over their disastrous in retrospect "TERROR TARGET SUGAR" story:

OUR story on January 7 about a 'hit list' of top British Jews on the website Ummah.com was based on claims by Glen Jenvey who last week confessed to duping several newspapers and Tory MP Patrick Mercer by fabricating stories about Islamic fundamentalism.Following Mr Jenvey's confession, we apologise to Ummah.com for the article which we now accept was inaccurate.

In the pantheon of apologies, this is hardly the most contrite or convincing of ones. It also gives next to no context: what in the article was inaccurate about Ummah.com? The nearest suggestion we get is that Islamic fundamentalism was involved. Anyone wanting to know more would have to search or go to the Press Complaints Commission's site to find out what the actual complaint was about:

A representative of www.ummah.com complained that an article had inaccurately suggested that the website was a forum for Islamic extremists. The story was based largely on the views of a ‘terror expert' named Glen Jenvey who expressed serious concerns about the website. The piece quoted a number of comments posted on ummah.com and suggested that extremists were seeking to ‘target' well-known British Jews. The complainant said that Mr Jenvey's claims were unfounded and that there was, in fact, some evidence that he himself had posted the quoted comments in order to create the story.

Resolution:

The PCC's investigation, launched in January 2009, had to be placed on hold for a period of time because of a concurrent, related legal action. However, on 13 September, Glen Jenvey confessed publicly that he had, indeed, posted the comments on ummah.com which became the basis for the Sun's story. He admitted having deceived various media outlets, individuals and organisations. Mr Jenvey's confession was reported by the Sun on 15 September. In light of this development, the PCC re-opened its enquiries into the complaint from the representative of ummah.com. The complaint was resolved on 23 September when the Sun published the following apology under the heading ‘Ummah.com':

OUR story on January 7 about a ‘hit list' of top British Jews on the website Ummah.com was based on claims by Glen Jenvey who last week confessed to duping several newspapers and Tory MP Patrick Mercer by fabricating stories about Islamic fundamentalism. Following Mr Jenvey's confession, we apologise to Ummah.com for the article which we now accept was inaccurate.

The apology also appeared on the Sun's website.

In a way it's a shame that Ummah.com has accepted the Sun's apology, as the PCC will now consider the matter closed. Not accepting it and forcing the PCC to adjudicate and therefore comment further on the Sun's complete abandonment of normal journalistic practice, with the resulting adjudication then needing to be published in full by the paper would have been preferable, but it's understandable that Ummah.com didn't want to take it any further. One of the arguments that Graham Dudman used in his original letter to the PCC which completely defended the story was that Ummah.com in fact was, by anyone's standards, a "fanatics website", with a few select out of context quotes chosen to back up his allegation. Knowing the lack of backbone which the PCC repeatedly displays, they could well of taken this as a mitigating factor, even though the story turned out to be a tissue of lies and that all of Glen Jenvey's supposed credentials, which Dudman lists, were worthless.

The whole incident is though instructive of how the tabloids deal with such complaints. Even when an article which appeared on the front page and made such startling accusations and claims is shown to have been completely inaccurate, the only thing the paper has had to do in any form of reparation is publish the pathetic "clarification" at the top of this post, which was printed in the paper itself on page 12. Any casual reader would think that the Sun was the victim of Jenvey as much as Ummah.com was, when this could not be further from the actuality.

It remains to be seen where Alan Sugar's legal action against the paper will take us, although considering that they have now accepted that the "article was inaccurate", a settlement seems to be the most likely result. As for the others involved at the periphery, such as Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, Tim has just revealed information which shows despite Mercer's subsequent denials, his office had worked and was still working with Jenvey over a month and a half after the Sun's story was shown to most likely be Jenvey's own invention, this time attempting to get his handiwork into the People. The fallout from a front page tabloid newspaper story in early January seems likely to continue for some time yet.

Some closure to the Glen Jenvey/TERROR TARGET SUGAR saga.

An indication of just what a disgraceful and shameless newspaper the Sun really is can be seen in their non-apology/clarification for the "TERROR TARGET SUGAR"/Glen Jenvey story which has been posted on their website today. Finally stirred into action by Jenvey's appearance on the Donal MacIntyre show on Radio 5 Live on Sunday, they have naturally passed all of the blame straight onto his already quaking shoulders:

A PHONEY terrorism "expert" has confessed to duping newspapers and a senior politician.

Glen Jenvey has admitted making up stories about Islamic fundamentalism, including a faked list of prominent Jewish "targets", which included Lord Alan Sugar.

He revealed his scheming in an interview with BBC reporter Tom Mangold, aired on Sunday's edition of Donal MacIntyre's Radio Five Live show.

Jenvey told how he fabricated the list of Jewish targets by posing as a fundamentalist on an extremist website where he urged others to suggest names.

He then leaked the made-up list to a trusted news agency, used by The Sun, and online forum Ummah.com was wrongly accused of being used to prepare a backlash against UK Jews.

Jenvey - who had been described as "an extremely capable and knowledgeable analyst" by Tory MP Patrick Mercer - said: "I'm fully responsible for the story. The Sun was deceived.

"The Sun did not know that I was behind the postings.

"I would like to apologise to all the British Jews who we scared and I'd like to apologise to The Sun newspaper."

Jenvey was not of course fully responsible for the story; he hardly forced the Sun to publish what had been supplied to them by the South West News Service, whom he had initially provided the story to (and also presumably paid him through). The fact remains that there was no story here, even with Jenvey's posts on the Ummah.com thread as abuislam. It was a thread, as the initial post pointed out, to use entirely peaceful methods (writing letters) to supporters of Israel. You can criticise the fact they chose to specifically targets Jews, when being Jewish and supporting Israel does not always go hand in hand, as well as some of the more "colourful" language used by some of the posters in the thread, but there was still no story here, even when "abuislam", now exposed as Glen Jenvey, suggested doorstep protests, which while unpleasant, are not illegal and which was not going to mean "terrorists" or "Islamic extremists" descending on the doorstep of Alan Sugar, David Miliband or Mark Ronson.

This story is an example of the Sun's fundamental contempt for the very standards of journalism. Any reputable news organisation which still somehow imagined that there was a story here would have checked, checked and then checked the "facts" again. They would have made certain that abuislam was not one and the same as the person providing them with the story, especially considering the way that abuislam was quite clearly acting as an agent provocateur in the thread, "bumping" it repeatedly, and resurrecting it finally three days after the last post. They would have checked whether there was any realistic prospect of one person's suggestion on a forum being put into action, and contacted those named and both alerted them and asked whether they had been sent either letters or had protesters outside their houses. They would have further checked Glen Jenvey's credentials, not just relying on the word of a Conservative MP. Then, and only then, would they perhaps have published the story, and even then it was hardly deserving of front page status, or the ludicrous claim that Alan Sugar was to be a "TERROR TARGET".

The real story here though is that Jenvey, after his association/collaboration with other amateur 'terror experts' such as Dominic Wightman (aka Whiteman) had been supplying the tabloids with either false or hugely exaggerated stories of terrorist threats, with the help of the Tory MP Patrick Mercer. The Sun had worked with Jenvey before, and not caring whether his claims were accurate or not, had no reason or inclination to doubt him this time round. It just so happens that Jenvey had become lazy and left this time a trail which Tim Ireland picked up (and, I must add, which I myself started off on), and who has only been grudgingly credited by the BBC.

Even then the paper could have quickly accepted that its story was ridiculously sensationalist and that this time round they had been had. Instead, the Sun's managing editor Graham Dudman sent a letter to the Press Complaints Commission on the 27th of January which defended every aspect of the story. Tim Ireland will hopefully be revealing the text of the letter in full later in the week, but having seen a copy, I can whet appetites by saying that some of his arguments are truly jaw-dropping.

It's still not clear what action, if indeed any the PCC is going to take against the paper over the story. Indeed, it might well agree with the paper that Jenvey was fully responsible, going by its past record, and that today's non-apology is sufficient. It's also unclear just what Alan Sugar's lawyers will make of Jenvey's confession, considering his decision to sue the paper over the story. What clearly should happen however is that for a front page story of such prominence, which was so categorically wrong in almost every aspect, and may well have scared some prominent Jews, as well as smearing the Ummah.com forum, there should be at the very least a front page apology. It has to remembered this story came at a time of high tension surrounding the Israeli attack on Gaza, with angry well-attended demonstrations taking place almost every weekend during the conflict, with more than potential to substantially harm community relations further. It was also yet again a Sun story on Muslims which portrayed them in at best a very bad light, straight out of the school which led to the £30,000 payment to the bus driver Arunas Raulynaitis for claiming he ordered passengers off so he could pray, and of the non-existent "Windsor Muslim yobs" who had supposedly attacked a house which soldiers had looked at with a view to moving in. I don't think I can really add to what I wrote at the time of the former:

It goes without saying that such unsubstantiated journalism threatens community relations and is often used by extremists, even after such reports have been proved false, to stir up hate. Reporting such topics requires great care, care which the Sun has neither the time nor the inclination to use.

Nor has it the courage, the honesty or the humility to admit when it gets a story so drastically wrong.

[UPDATE 16 Feb: Hi folks. Tim here. I have changed a paragraph at the request demand of Dominic Wightman, who gets most upset if he feels anything arguably inaccurate is published about him (but seems not to mind publishing wholly/deliberately false accounts himself). The relevant paragraph has been edited to better reflect the fact that Wightman and Jenvey had parted ways before the latter party specifically peddled false stories to tabloids. The false stories originating from Wightman's email/web accounts have never made it as far as a tabloid newspaper (that I'm aware of), and I am happy to make that clear.]

Spinwatch on Jenvey.

Spinwatch has a new article up which is by far the most comprehensive attempt yet to link together the "network" which Glen Jenvey was formerly a part of, and includes details on others that have been featured in the Sun's pages as "terror experts", such as Neil Doyle, whom I've mentioned on a number of occasions.

It also mentions the Sun's reply to the Press Complaints Commission concerning the "TERROR TARGET SUGAR" story, which Ummah.com had protested about:

In its response to the Press Complaints Commission, a copy of which has been given to Spinwatch, The Sun argued that, ‘to regard Islamic extremists as being in the business of sending ‘polite letters’ is naïve and extreme. This is based on the expert opinion of Glen Jenvey, an expert in radical Islam…it is quite obviously a euphemism…’

Yes, obviously... that's why the thread had to be bumped repeatedly by "Abuislam" to try to get everyone interested in the business of sending "polite letters", and why he also had to suggest turning up at their houses in person. The letter itself will be of even greater interest once it can be released in full.

The article was sadly written before Jenvey's confession that he was indeed "Abuislam", and so the most crucial part of evidence concerning the fakery and entrapment which Jenvey's group used is not included. I, as well as others, had long been concerned about the likes of Vigil and Westminster Journal and their sensationalistic approach to "watching" jihadists, a vital security activity which they have risked undermining through their selling of ridiculous false stories to tabloids; I had intended to write a "who watches the watchers?" post but never got round to it. It does however further pin down Patrick Mercer as one of Jenvey's main supporters and pushers, someone who ought to have been far more careful and circumspect in his dealings with such individuals, and whom Tim Ireland is still currently in dispute with over what he knew and when.

The latest in the Glen Jenvey/Ummah.com/TERROR TARGET SUGAR saga.

In a revelation that will surprise absolutely no one, Glen Jenvey, of TERROR TARGET SUGAR fame, has admitted that he posted the messages on the Ummah.com forum which led to the Sun's article during the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza in January. Sun - Tabloid Lies contributor Richard Bartholomew has confirmed the authenticity of a message sent to Ummah.com's administrators:

Brother i'm sorry for the Allan Sugar story plant. I'm retired now from spying on Muslims. I saw a chance to install fear back in Jews who were killing Muslims.I was wrong to use you and your site.If you need any thing to help you in any way in the name of Allah just ask.

But yes the Sun did not know who posted it.I say sorry to you from my heart. if you want show the police and get me arrested. but with the first ramadaam coming i want to clear my past sin's before i start my fasting and pray.

I would write this on your forum but im blocked out. may Allah reward you for your good work you do.Ameen

Omar Hamza Jenvey

aka

Glen Jenvey

Jenvey's claim that the Sun didn't know that he was the author of the messages is plausible: the story itself was sold to the Sun through an outside news agency, which presumably Jenvey himself contacted. This doesn't however excuse the Sun's sexing up of the story, claiming that the likes of Alan Sugar were on a "hit list" drawn up by "hate-filled Islamic extremists", when all that was proposed outside of the posts by "abuislam" was a letter-writing campaign, and even Jenvey himself only suggested demonstrations outside their houses, nor their abject failure to check that "abuislam" wasn't an agent provocateur. There was no story whatsoever, except in the heads of journalists flailing to provide a UK-centric report on a war which they otherwise couldn't care less about, while also of course continuing the casual demonisation of Muslims, especially those who dare to criticise policies which the Sun and Murdoch press in general support wholeheartedly.

While Jenvey has admitted to what we were already almost certain he had done, I remain concerned about his mental state and his sudden apparent conversion to Islam, especially his supposed involvement with the likes of Omar Bakri Muhammad. It may yet turn out that this is just Jenvey's latest ploy, or rather his latest obsession, as his mental health has always apparently been precarious, but it equally may be that he is being manipulated by those that are just as bad as the anti-Islam brigade that Jenvey previously associated with. Far be it from me to tell someone what they should do, but what I would suggest is that everyone ought to leave Jenvey alone until it is absolutely certain that he is indeed making his own decisions.

Glen Jenvey fallout widens.

The fallout from the Sun's publishing of the claims of Glen Jenvey on its front page continues to grow - now Alan Sugar himself is starting legal action against the paper, claiming that its publication of the story put his security at risk, rather, it seems, than Ummah.com and its marauding Islamic fanatics with their letters of hate. It remains unclear exactly what Sugar is claiming, although it seems more than likely that he'll be after some sort of settlement, which when libelled in the past he has donated to charity. In any event, the Sun must be deeply regretting its incredibly poor journalism and how much it might potentially cost it, with both a PCC investigation and now a legal battle on its hands.

The Echo Chamber

The mission of this blog from the outset has been to show people the lies told in The Sun in the hope of turning tabloid readers away from this newspaper.

Often we will hear people 'defend' that tabloid on the basis that no-one believes their nonsense.

We humbly beg to differ on this point, not least because there are plenty of news outlets willing to repeat their nonsense, and not all of their readers realise that The Sun is the sole source of what they are reading (if The Sun is listed as a source at all).

Fear is a cumulative thing, after all, and not always subject to logic.

Thanks to the hard work of editor Sim-O, we now have an excellent example of this echo chamber at work, and from today, Sun Lies editors and other contributors will be working through this list as part of a - *cough* - polite letter-writing campaign designed to (a) show people how the echo chamber works, and (b) provide us with a starting point so we can clean up some of the mess The Sun left behind when they selfishly backed away from the story instead of pointing out to other news outlets that they were wrong, and their 'expert' was a fraud...

... which neatly brings us to the list of things you'll want to keep in mind when browsing through this incomplete list of stories resulting from The Sun's 'scoop':

1. The Sun wilfully distorted the evidence presented by terror 'expert' Glen Jenvey in order to sex up what became a front page story.

2. Further, the evidence presented by terror 'expert' Glen Jenvey turned out to be falsified/planted *by* terror 'expert' Glen Jenvey.

3. After this was discovered, The Sun quietly removed their article from their website, but failed to issue a retraction.

4. Some initial comments and emails issued by editors of this blog and/or readers of Bloggerheads have resulted in some other articles being removed, but for the most part, the written record states that this happened (when it clearly didn't), and there is very little in the world of mainstream media that suggests otherwise.

5. Please note that some articles out there like this one involve a critical eye and independent reporting, *not* a simple repeat of the story. The Telegraph, unlike some newspapers, were also kind enough to publish our comment about major inaccuracies in the story. Please also note that examples like this are very, very thin on the ground.

6. A classic case of Chinese whispers for fans of the echo chamber; The Sun took the list of names offered (!) by Glen Jenvey in his guise as 'abuislam' (Sir Alan Sugar, Alan Howard, David Miliband) and decided it needed a bit of sexing up for the text generation, so they had a browse through this list of 100 names from a link posted to that discussion, and picked out Mark Ronson (at #62), mainly because of his connection to Amy Winehouse. The opening paragraph from the since-removed article declared that "TV’s The Apprentice boss Sir Alan Sugar and Amy Winehouse record producer Mark Ronson are among prominent names discussed on a fanatics’ website" and this was quickly interpreted (and then repeated) as Amy Winehouse being a 'target', and not merely the most famous client of a 'target'. The Sun did nothing to correct this, before or after their entire story was proved false.

7. There are also clear cases such as this, where it has gone to being a story reported as being from The Sun in NME to NME being presented as if it were a source.

"No-one believes The Sun"...? Bollocks to that.

OK, there's your background. Here are close to fifty examples from the echo chamber, starting with The Sun's front page 'scoop' that kicked things off. Articles like those listed below appeared around the world in multiple languages, not only online, but in print, and in news bulletins on radio and television. What we present here is just the tip of the iceberg:

[This list will be updated and labels attached to removed/corrected articles as our clean-up efforts progress.]

QUIETLY WITHDRAWN WITHOUT A RETRACTION:
Hate hit list
The Sun, UK - 6 Jan 2009
By JOHN COLES FEARS grew last night that hate-filled Islamic extremists are drawing up a "hit list" of Britain's leading Jews — bringing the Middle East ...

QUIETLY WITHDRAWN WITHOUT A RETRACTION:
David Miliband and Sir Alan Sugar 'targeted' in anti-semitic hit ...
Daily Mail, UK - 6 Jan 2009
By Tamara Cohen Islamic fundamentalists have drawn up an online list of Jewish 'targets' including David Milliband and Sir Alan Sugar. ...

QUIETLY WITHDRAWN WITHOUT A RETRACTION:
Sir Alan 'target for extremists'
guardian.co.uk, UK - 6 Jan 2009
Apprentice star Sir Alan Sugar has been said to be among a list of top British Jews thought to be targeted by extremists over Israel's Gaza onslaught. ...

WITHDRAWN FOLLOWING OUR EMAIL ALERT CAMPAIGN:
Sugar 'target for extremists'
TeleText, UK - 6 Jan 2009
Apprentice star Sir Alan Sugar is said to be among a list of top British Jews thought to be targeted by extremists over Israel's Gaza onslaught. ...

QUIETLY WITHDRAWN WITHOUT A RETRACTION:
Winehouse named on Islamic terror list
Digital Spy, UK - 7 Jan 2009
By David Balls The singer was added to a list of 'top Jews to target' on the fundamentalist forum following recent troubles in the Middle East. ...

QUIETLY WITHDRAWN WITHOUT A RETRACTION:
Amy Winehouse 'Named On Islamic Extremist Terror List'
Gigwise, UK - 7 Jan 2009
by Jason Gregory Amy Winehouse has been named as a "terror target" on a hit list compiled by Islamic extremists, according to reports. ...

CORRECTION PUBLISHED UNDER/VIA COMMENTS:
Do we need to protect Alan Sugar?
guardian.co.uk, UK - 7 Jan 2009
At last, to the delight of the many people who stop by to complain that the majority of posts on this blog confusingly and irritatingly concern showbusiness ...

Report: Islamist site compiling list of UK Jews to target over Gaza op
Ha'aretz, Israel - 7 Jan 2009
By Haaretz Service An Islamic extremist Web site is believed to be drawing up a list of prominent British Jews to target over Israel's offensive against ...

Sugar could be Hamas target
Herald.ie, Ireland - 7 Jan 2009
Apprentice star Alan Sugar was said today to be among a list of top British Jews thought to be targeted by extremists over Israel's Gaza onslaught. ...

Kill 'em. Kill 'em all
Irish Independent, Ireland - 7 Jan 2009
As the current unpleasantness in the Middle East continues -- you may have seen something about it on the news -- it seems that the problems in the region ...

CORRECTION PUBLISHED FOLLOWING OUR EMAIL ALERT CAMPAIGN:
Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson 'targeted by Islamic extremists'
NME.com, UK - 7 Jan 2009
Reports have emerged today (January 7) claiming that Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson have been included on a "terror target" hit list made in reaction to the ...

CORRECTION PUBLISHED UNDER/VIA COMMENTS:
Amy Winehouse allegedly targeted by Islamic extremists
Prefixmag, NY - 7 Jan 2009
It's rare for Amy Winehouse to be out of the headlines, but this time she may have become the unwitting target of an alarming hate campaign. ...

CORRECTION PUBLISHED UNDER/VIA COMMENTS:
Shields MP on terror hit list
Shields Gazette, UK - 7 Jan 2009
By Paul Myles-Kelly SOUTH Shields MP David Miliband is said to be among leading British figures targeted on an extremist Islamic "hit list". ...

CORRECTION PUBLISHED UNDER/VIA COMMENTS:
British Jews Under Threat of Revenge Attacks
ShortNews.com, Germany - 7 Jan 2009
Well known British Jews have been warned about revenge attacks carried out by Islamic extremists. Authorities fear a hit list of celebrities and politicians ...

Extremists have drawn up Brit Jew hit list
Sify, India - 7 Jan 2009
London: Hate-filled Islamic extremists are reported to be drawing up a "hit list" of Britain's leading Jews. The Sun reports British anti-terror expert Glen ...


WITHDRAWN FOLLOWING OUR EMAIL ALERT CAMPAIGN:
List of leading British Jews is posted on extremist website
This is London, UK - 7 Jan 2009
APPRENTICE star Sir Alan Sugar and pop producer Mark Ronson are among a list of leading British Jews thought to be targeted by extremists over Israel's ...

Amy auf Todesliste islamischer Extremisten
Blick Online - 8. Jan. 2009
Islamische Extremisten haben es auf die britische Sängerin Amy Winehouse abgesehen. Auf der Todesliste, die auf Hass-Internetseite «Ummah» auftauchte, ...

Amy Winehouse, blanco de terroristas
esmas, Mexico - 8 Jan 2009
Aunque no le han dado importancia, Glen Jenvey, experto en antiterrorismo de origen británico, asegura que los comentarios publicados deben ser tomados en ...

WITHDRAWN FOLLOWING OUR EMAIL ALERT CAMPAIGN:
Prominent UK Jews named on website
First Post, UK - 8 Jan 2009
Businessman Sir Alan Sugar and record producer Mark Ronson (right) feature on a list of high-profile British Jews who could be targeted after their names ...

UK Celebrity Terror Watch
Heeb Magazine - 8 Jan 2009
Reports emerged yesterday alleging Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson have been added to a "terror target" hit list made in reaction to the current conflict in ...

MIRROR OF NME ARTICLE (ABOVE):
Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson 'targeted by Islamic extremists'
Launch Yahoo - 8 Jan 2009
Reports have emerged today (January 7) claiming that Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson have been included on a "terror target" hit list made in reaction to the ...

ARTICLE WITHDRAWN (MARKED AS 'EXPIRED'):
UK authorities believe these prominent British Jews are on terror ...
Electric New Paper, Singapore - 8 Jan 2009
Anti-terrorism expert Glen Jenvey told The Sun he feared the forum was being used to prepare a backlash against Jews. He said: 'The Ummah website has been ...

Rampant Muslim Jew-Hatred
EuropeNews, Denmark - 8 Jan 2009
Mr Jenvey, 43, [British anti-terror expert Glen Jenvey] said: "The Ummah website has been used by extremists. Those listed should treat it very seriously. ...

Winehouse Appears on Terrorist Hit List
Popeater, NY - 8 Jan 2009
(Jan. 8) -- Amy Winehouse and British music producer Mark Ronson are among the celebrities including on a "terror target" list made in response to the ...

Terroryści chcą zabić Amy Winehouse!
Pudelek, Poland - 8 Jan 2009
Takie listy należy traktować bardzo poważnie – powiedział mediom Glen Jenvey. Fanatycy są gotowi atakować gwiazdy, które uważają za symbol zepsutego ...

Amy Winehouse na lista dos extremistas islâmicos
SRZD, Brazil - 8 Jan 2009
O britânico Glen Jenvey, especialista em táticas antiterroristas disse ao jornal que a tal lista deve ser levada a sério. "O website da Ummah está sendo ...

QUIETLY WITHDRAWN WITHOUT A RETRACTION:
Islam-Terroristen wollen Amy ermorden
Berliner Kurier - 9. Jan. 2009
London - Gerade planschte sie noch ausgelassen oben ohne in der Karibik und turtelte mit ehemaligen Rugby-Spielern am Strand, da hat sie schon wieder Ärger ...

Amy Winehouse na seznamu terčů islámských teroristů
Blesk.cz, Czech Republic - 9 Jan 2009
Očekávejte nenávistnou kampaň a zastrašování tak od dvaceti či třiceti zločinců," uvedl britský expert na terorismus Glen Jenvey pro list The Sun. ...

Amy Winehouse Marked for Death!
Celebuzz, CA - 9 Jan 2009
Any person who's been reading the tabloid news over the past year would assume that Amy Winehouse will do herself in before anyone else can get the chance. ...

Amy Winehouse estaria na mira de terroristas
Ego, Brazil - 9 Jan 2009
De acordo com o site "Perez Hilton", Glen Jenvey, uma especialista britânica anti-terrorismo, extremistas islâmicos teriam elaborado uma lista de alguns dos ...

Amy Winehouse, pe lista ţintelor unor posibile atacuri teroriste
Mediafax, Romania - 9 Jan 2009
Glen Jenvey, un expert britanic în politicile antiteroriste, consideră că această ameninţare trebuie să fie luată în serios. El a declarat pentru cotidianul ...

Amy Winehouse na seznamu terčů islámských teroristů
Blesk.cz, Czech Republic - 9 Jan 2009
Očekávejte nenávistnou kampaň a zastrašování tak od dvaceti či třiceti zločinců," uvedl britský expert na terorismus Glen Jenvey pro list The Sun. ...

Amy Winehouse op dodenlijst Islamitische groepering!
Primeurjagers.nl - 9 jan 2009
Het wordt uitkijken voor Amy Winehouse. Haar leven wordt nu eens niet bedreigd door drugs door ... extremistsiche islamieten. ...

Todesliste: Winehouse im Visier von Terroristen
oe24.at - 9. Jan. 2009
Islamische Extremisten erklären jüdische Prominente wie Amy Winehouse und Mark Ronson zu Zielen von Terroranschlägen. Während Amy Winehouse auf der...

Amy Winehouse on Terrorist Hit List
OK! Magazine, NY - 9 Jan 2009
As the conflict in Gaza rages on, Islamic extremists are turning their hate to Western nations and their Jewish citizens, naming several prominent Brits on ...

Winehouse A Terrorist Target
PerezHilton.com, CA - 9 Jan 2009
According to a new report, there's a lot of talk that Islamic extremists have drawn up a "hit list" of some of Britain's leading Jews. ...

Terrorists Target Winehouse
Radar Online, NY - 9 Jan 2009
According to published reports, singer Amy Winehouse and British music producer Mark Ronson are among the celebrities marked for death on a 'terror target' ...

AMY WINEHOUSE OP DODENLIJST JIHAD Amy Winehouse op dodenlijst Jihad
ShowbizNewz.nl - 9 jan 2009
Niemand minder dan Amy Winehouse staat op de Islaamse Jihad dodenlijst. De zangeres is toegevoegd aan een dodenlijst speciaal gericht op joden, ...

WITHDRAWN FOLLOWING OUR EMAIL ALERT CAMPAIGN:
Amy Winehouse en danger de mort ?
SCOOP PEOPLE, France - 9 Jan 2009
Et d'après un spécialiste anglais du terrorisme, Glen Jenvey, "les personnes figurant dans cette liste doivent prendre cela très sérieusement"...

Amy Winehouse, cible pour les terroristes ?
Teemix - 9 jan 2009
Un site internet, apparemment souvent visité par des islamistes, a eu la "brillante" idée de publier une liste de personnalités d'origine juive qui feraient ...

Amy im Visier von Terroristen
Vienna Online - 9. Jan. 2009
Dies berichtete nun NME.com. Auf der Internetseite Ummah.com forderte ein Poster andere User auf, prominente Juden vorzuschlagen, die zum Ziel von ...

Amy Winehouse visée par des terroristes
Voici - 9 jan 2009
La chanteuse trash est à mille lieues de se douter de ce qu'il se passe de l'autre côté du globe. En vacances sous le soleil de Sainte-Lucie, dans les bras ...

Is Amy Winehouse Being Targeted By Terrorists?!?
X17 Online, California - 9 Jan 2009
Reports in the UK say that Amy Winehouse is a "terror target" for extremists who plan to attack high profile British's Jews. Also named in the threat was ...

Amy vizata de teroristi
Ziua, Romania - 9 Jan 2009
Glen Jenvey, un expert britanic in politicile antiteroriste, considera ca aceasta amenintare trebuie sa fie luata in serios. Acesta a declarat pentru ...

Suicide Bombers Target Suicidal Bummer
Jawa Report, TX - 10 Jan 2009
It has been frequently noted that Islamists are rather short on sophistication. Indeed, traits like humor, intelligence and irony appear to be completely ...

Troubled singer Amy Winehouse in terror hit list?
Spicezee, India - 10 Jan 2009
Los Angeles, Jan 10: The troubled pop singer Amy Winehouse, whose weird antics have always grabbed more eyeballs than her singing talent, is reportedly on ...

Η Amy Winehouse και ο Mark Ronson στόχοι τρομοκρατών!
Avopolis, Greece - 11 Jan 2009
... Λωρίδα της Γάζας. Σύμφωνα με τον ειδικό της βρετανικής αντιτρομοκρατικής υπηρεσίας, Glen Jenvey, οι αναφορές αυτές θα πρέπει να ληφθούν σοβαρά υπόψιν. ...

(Psst! You may also have noticed after browsing through that list that the name of terror 'expert' Glen Jenvey also echoed around the world. Would it be wrong to suspect that this is one of the reasons why he tells such awful lies?)

Letter writing "Islamic fanatics" disappear.

As Tim notes, less than a week after publishing claims that Alan Sugar was among a number of "top Jews" due to be targeted by "hate-filled extremists", the Sun's front page article of the 7th of January has mysteriously vanished from the web. As it seems unlikely that the paper will have willing accepted that it was a tissue of lies from start to finish, concocted by its journalists with the help of a supposed former spy called Glen Jenvey, either lawyers have already made contact with the paper or the Press Complaints Commission is presumably investigating and has requested it be taken down for the time being.

The damage though has already been done, as previously stated. Hundreds of sites either reproduced or slightly altered the Sun's story without so much as even doing a cursory check of the facts, which would have only involved visiting the Ummah.com site and looking for the thread in question, which was hardly difficult to find. Those stories will remain up, even when the original has disappeared down the memory hole.

Update: Jon Swaine, who wrote the Telegraph's follow-up report on the Sun's story, emails in:

Hi,

I thought it might be helpful to point out that my take on the Sun's story for telegraph.co.uk is top of the Google News list linked to in your latest post on this subject.

And while your main point - that barely anyone bothered to check the details before ripping off the Sun - clearly stands, in fact I did wait until contacting Sajid at the forum and my story does make clear that it was a call to start a 'polite letter-writing campaign', rather than anything more sinister.

Given that my story is top of the list you link to, and may be read first by your readers, I thought there might be a better way of illustrating your point - eg linking directly to the Mail, PA, Guardian etc versions of the story, which indeed faithlessly reproduce the Sun interpretation.

More than happy to oblige.

Glen Jenvey and the letter writing "Islamic fanatics".

(Cross-posted from my blog.)

Strangely for what was a front page "exclusive", the Sun has not so much as a single word to say in today's paper about yesterday's entirely concocted claim that Alan Sugar was on a "hit list" drawn up by "hate-filled Islamic extremists" on a "fanatics" website. Perhaps they'd already noted that the Ummah.com forum had produced a press release which denied the allegations in the strongest possible terms, or maybe they felt they'd already done enough, which they certainly had. Google News links to 174 separate news stories, all of which had their origin in the Sun's original, the vast majority without so much as questioning the Sun's claim or double-checking them. Churnalism, as always, had done its work.

Unfortunately for the Sun, their story has even further unravelled. Their own journalists in this instance seem to have only written the story up, or had it sold to them by Glen Jenvey, a so-called anti-terror expert and former spy quoted in yesterday's report as claiming that the result of the naming of certain high profile Jews on Ummah.com would result in 20 to 30 thugs going round their houses, at the least. Jenvey has an interesting past, and as Tim from Bloggerheads who has done most of the digging with some help from others notes, he's been involved in editing his own Wikipedia page, like all the finest egomaniacs, so nothing on there can be trusted in the slightest. Jenvey's page claims that he studied radical Islam at college, spied on Iran for the United States, and also infiltrated the Tamil Tigers. Again, trusting things on the internet is always unwise, but mikimoose in the comments on Tim's original post uncovered a perhaps more enlightening reason for Jenvey's interest in radical Islam:

[snip]
Update 16/03/09: Following the latest from Tim have fully removed the claims involving Jenvey's non-existent daughter.
[/snip]

Jenvey is linked with another whole host of interesting characters, the online group Vigil, which claims to be monitoring and infiltrating jihadist forums online, both for surveillance purposes and, it seems, with a view to selling stories onto the national press. Vigil themselves deny that Jenvey is a member, although they admit that they have worked with him in the past. While Ummah.com as noted is by no means a radical forum, it has previously attracted extremist sentiment, and other sites have described it as being part of the so-called Londonistan set-up. For such an apparently sophisticated former spy meant to be monitoring incredibly dangerous individuals, Jenvey's exploits on Ummah.com were amateurish to say the least. While yesterday it was thought that "abuislam", the poster on the original thread that attempted to stir the letter writing campaign up into something it wasn't was a freelance journalist called Richard Tims, this appears to have a simple cover for Jenvey himself. Tims' only post on Ummah.com was to link to a website where you could sell stories, now defunct. Unfortunately for Jenvey, posts on other sites spamming sellyourstory.org point to the fact that the site was owned by none other than... Jenvey.

Tim has noted that "abuislam" had tried on a number of other occasions to troll Ummah.com, hoping to catch some bait, presumably to sell to the newspapers, but he failed on each and every occasion, not getting enough for a story to be weaved out of it. First he posted about the prospective release of "terrorist mastermind" Abu Izzadeen, without getting a single reply. Then he went a bit further, asking whether "marital rape" exists, which did spark discussion, but as you would expect, plenty of condemnation and some others in thread wondering about trolling. Next up was asking where the failed nail bomber Nicky Reilly might have been encouraged into carrying out a suicide attack, again without any luck. Probably most interestingly, especially regarding the Sun, he next tried to ask opinions on the Sun's "Help for Heroes" charity single, done in conjunction with the X Factor. One response was his reward, and that was to tell him that they didn't really discuss pop music. Perhaps this was his attempt to cash in on a previous Sun front page story, where the paper claimed that Omar Bakri Muhammad had ranted about the X Factor's involvement with the charity, suggesting that even watching it was committing a form of "muadaat". After failing with a thread on Prince Harry, he finally struck gold with his posts on letter-writing campaign thread.

The best that can be said for the Sun itself is that it was tricked by Jenvey in alerting them to the non-story in the first place, with them chomping at the bit to concoct from the little there was to go on in the Ummah.com thread a supposed "hate-filled Islamic extremist" threat to Alan Sugar and others, not bothering to investigate whether abuislam's interventions were too good to be true. At worst, the Sun has connived with a supposed anti-terror expert in completely fabricating a threat to some of the most prominent Jews in those country, doubtless causing them undue worry at the very least, all while further demonising British Muslims who were only planning to exercise their democratic right to peaceful protest. Whatever the truth, what has happened here is still a scandal; a newspaper caught red-handed, diverting attention away from the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza to completely spurious and invented threats, purely for its own profit and gain. This deserves to be investigated by the Press Complaints Commission at the very least, although Ummah.com is already considering its legal options. The paper might well yet curse doing business with Glen Jenvey.

Update: Fayruz in the comments on Bloggerheads says that Jenvey has no daughter and that the entire interview was invented by the Saviour Sect. I'm not removing the link as yet but just another thing to be kept in mind.

Update 16/03/09: As above, have fully removed claims involving Jenvey's non-existent daughter.