Trinity
Mirror is understood to have accepted there was a breakdown in its
advertising booking process and that Yellow Advertiser editor Paula
Dady was not shown an advert placed in the paper by a Tory
parliamentary candidate which referred to “asylum cheats”, writes Sarah
Lagan.
A company spokesperson said it would employ a “more
stringent vetting process” after it came under fire from the Commission
for Racial Equality for publishing the advert placed by Bob Spink, who
is now under investigation by the commission.
Spink, who is defending a majority of 985 in Castle Point, Essex, asked of Tony Blair: “What bit of ‘send them back’
don’t you understand?” under the heading ‘Stop Asylum Abuse’.
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The ad also said: “Bob leads the fight in parliament to stop asylum cheats. If we don’t act, nasty fringe parties will.
Labour
has tripled illegal immigration and only one in five failed asylum
seekers is removed.”Clive Mardner, director of the Essex Racial
Equality Council, claimed the advert could incite racial hatred and
that the paper should print an apology along with an explanation as to
how it was allowed.
He said: “We would challenge Yellow
Advertiser to clarify their criteria for accepting adverts. This advert
is clearly misleading, inaccurate and racially offensive. Surely there
must be some levels to which the Yellow Advertiser would not stoop.”
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A
spokesman for Trinity Mirror Southern said: “As part of the political
process, party candidates often take out advertising in their local
papers.
However, given the prominence of asylum and immigration
issues in this election, it is clear that we need to take greater care
in the vetting of political communications.
“To this end, all such advertisements will now be subject to a more stringent formal vetting procedure… before publication.”
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