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To: Kevin O' Sullivan, Editor of the Irish Times

The Irish Times should not legitimise racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia or fascism

We ask that the Irish Times take editorial responsibility and does not print articles that are uncritically racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic or fascist.

We also ask that the 'The alt-right movement: everything you need to know' article (published on the 5th of January 2017) is removed and an apology is issued for printing racial slurs and fascism without context.

Why is this important?

Dear Mr. O' Sullivan,

We the undersigned are asking that the Irish Times publish an apology for printing an article containing racist, transphobic and misogynistic slurs in an uncritical manner. It is abbhorent that an article would be published by a media outlet about a fascist movement without using the word fascist to describe that movement. Instead, the editorial team uncritically accepted and presented the language of the so called 'alt-right'.

Thus far, instead of an apology for this failure in media responsibility, the editor of the opinion section, John MacManus, has attempted to justify his position by making a false comparison between fascism and the movement for reproductive rights in Ireland. This is unacceptable and shows a deep misunderstanding of the issue at hand and what the responsibilities of the media are in this instance.

We are at a watershed moment when fascism is rising across Europe and the USA and the media has a responsibility to report this in an accurate and critical manner. Fascism thrives on stereotyping and scapegoating vulnerable groups in society. By publishing this piece the Irish Times is feeding into the normalisation of intolerance.

We sign this petition to send a clear message to you and the editorial staff of the Irish Times. We do not want this paper to be a platform for fascism. We do not want people from vulnerable groups to be hurt by slurs against their personhood.We want you to apologise so as to make it clear that you agree that we do not want to see such failures in editorial responsibility becoming commonplace in the Irish media.

Regards,

How it will be delivered

By hand

Ireland

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Updates

2017-01-08 14:58:52 +0000

500 signatures reached

2017-01-06 11:21:01 +0000

100 signatures reached

2017-01-06 10:38:52 +0000

50 signatures reached

2017-01-06 10:20:14 +0000

25 signatures reached

2017-01-06 09:49:22 +0000

10 signatures reached