The reputation of The Times, once Britain’s pre-eminent newspaper, started to free-fall after it became part of Rupert Murdoch’s empire. Its prestige initially declined in its search for populism rather than quality, losing its mantle as the country’s paper of record.

Any pretensions of being a heavyweight broadsheet were firmly buried when the newspaper switched to join its more sensationalist sister The Sun as a tabloid in 2005. As a very much establishment daily, there was little attempt to disguise the extent of some of its more extremist right-wing views it publishes.

Its fall from grace was epitomised in April when 230-year-old daily was found guilty by the press watchdog Independent Press Standards Organisation of a breach in the First Clause of the Editor’s Code of Practice on accuracy.

It was for one of its front pages on the infamous ‘Muslim fostering’ story that was riddled with a blatant Islamophobic narrative, which regrettably the Daily Mail, Telegraph and the Conservative Party have all become renowned for.

The scale of the distortions is further exposed in a summary of the final judgement of the case (see Page 9) that totally discredits not only chief investigative reporter Andrew Norfolk, who fabricated it but the daily itself and its proprietor.

As Professor of Journalism, Brian Cathcart, warns, the shoddy affair has “disgraced their paper and British journalism by recklessly publishing and defending a story that was not only grossly distorted and wholly unjustified by the facts, but one that was guaranteed to incite hatred against Muslims.”

Yet The Times still has not yet even attempted to withdraw its despicable allegations let alone apologise. Like the similar contemptible behaviour of former Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, towards Muslim women, it only proves that Muslims have become seemingly worthless in a society based upon hatred. Is no one any longer answerable for their deceitful crimes?

Heads must roll at The Times over Muslim fostering untruths