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British television gave the Edinburgh terror attack on five Muslim men just 160 minutes of coverage. A comparable antisemitic attack in London two months earlier received 1,107 minutes, according to new data from the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM), an independent media monitoring project based in London.
The disparity emerges against a backdrop of rising tension this year. Riots broke out in Southampton, triggered by the sentencing of Henry Nowak’s killer, and in Belfast, following the stabbing of Stephen Ogilvie. Both cases drew inflammatory comment from senior political figures, including Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and US Vice-President JD Vance.
However the Edinburgh attack on 19 June, in which five men were injured, with three requiring hospital treatment, received much less of a political and media response.
The assailant, Lewis Hawkes, 36, has been charged with five counts of attempted murder linked to terrorism. Police have withheld the names of the victims.
In video footage showing Hawkes being arrested by police officers, he is recorded saying, “I’m protecting the country from these f*cking Muslim b*stards raping our young daughters.”