“… after deciding against prosecuting the imams, an extraordinary thing happened. The police and the Crown Prosecution Service reported the programme makers to Ofcom, the TV regulator, alleging ‘complete distortion’ in the way the programme had been edited. The police even asked the CPS to consider prosecuting Channel Four, under the Public Order Act, for broadcasting a programme including material likely to stir up racial hatred, something the prosecutors rightly balked at.

“There was no suggestion that the Dispatches team had done anything other than what all media organisations do, which is to edit hours and hours of footage into a 60-minute programme. [Except that the CPS lawyer’s charge that the documentary had ‘completely distorted’ what the speakers had said suggests precisely that the documentary makers had done something very different from just editing down hours of footage.] But the police said that the documentary ‘had an impact in the community and the cohesion within it’.

“Since when has that been a matter for police investigation or referral to Ofcom? The greatest damage to community cohesion in this country is being caused by the separatist political ideology preached by extremists, not by those seeking to expose it. This is something the Government must confront if it is to support the Muslims who are taking on the fanatics….”

Philip Johnson in the Daily Telegraph, 24 September 2007

From Johnston’s warped perspective, of course, the “damage to community cohesion” produced by dishonest and inaccurate media propaganda directed against the Muslim communities is of no concern at all.