You may remember the “Cafe owner ordered to remove extractor fan in case smell of frying bacon offends passing Muslims” story in the Daily Mail last October (as you can see from the url, that was the original headline – it was later amended).

The story concerned Stockport Council’s rejection of a retrospective planning application for the retention of an extraction vent to the front of a cafe. This decision was the result of a successful objection by one individual, a Mr Graham Webb-Lee, who lived next door to the cafe and was not himself a Muslim. He stated: “The vent is 12 inches from my front door. Every morning the smell of bacon comes through and makes me physically sick.”

The “Muslim” connection consisted in the fact that Webb-Lee added: “I have a lot of Muslim friends. They refuse to visit me anymore because they can’t stand the smell of bacon.” He also stated that he had “a daughter with an eating disorder” whose health was affected by the odours from the extractor fan and that they made his clothes smell. But the only one among this range of objections that the Mail highlighted was Webb-Lee’s reference to his Muslim visitors.

Richard Bartholomew took the story up at the time, as did Tabloid Watch, and three readers wrote to the Press Complaints Commission objecting to the Mail‘s inaccurate and irresponsible reporting. Predictably, the PCC ruled in favour of the Mail – a decision criticised by Tabloid Watch, Roy Greenslade and Sunny Hundal.

Greenslade quoted the bigoted comments that the Mail‘s misleading report had provoked on its website. Some examples:

“Well how about, you go back to your own country and we can eat our food in peace” … “Absolutely ludicrous! If Muslims are affected let them ‘pass by on the other side of the street!’ I’m fed up of hearing about the possibility of offending Muslims in this God forsaken country!”… “If the Muslims don’t like our way of life they know where the airport is. Sick of listening to whinging religious fruitcakes.” And so on.

Greenslade also reproduced a comment on the Mail‘s report by Mr Webb-Lee himself:

“This vent is affecting my children’s health and that is why the council denied planning! Yes, I have some Muslim friends who it offended, but nothing was said about my English friends who avoid my house within opening hours of the shop! Shame on you Daily Mail. You have stirred up lots of racial tension in my area now, so for you its ‘mission accomplished’.”

Today the Mail has returned for a second bite at the cherry with a story headlined “‘A victory for common sense’: Cafe owner wins extractor fan appeal after neighbour claimed ‘smell of bacon offends Muslims'”. It begins, with characteristic disregard for accuracy: “A cafe owner was yesterday celebrating victory after a six-month legal battle to fry bacon triggered by Muslim complaints.” (The original version read: “A cafe owner who was ordered to tear down an extractor fan because the smell of bacon offended Muslims was celebrating a ‘victory for commons [sic] sense’ today.”)

And, again, the Mail‘s misrepresentation of the facts has fuelled the predictable outburst of anti-Muslim bigotry. Exposing racism and intolerance online has provided a screengrab of some of the Facebook comments by supporters of the English Defence League.

See also the Sun, which reports: “A café boss ordered to tear down an extractor fan as the smell of her frying bacon offended passing Muslims has won her appeal against the decision.”

And for a critical view of the press coverage, see “There’s a nasty smell about this story”, www.MethodistPreacher.com, 31 March 2011