Mistakes with identities have dismayed our readers – and prompted change | Elisabeth Ribbans | The Guardian

When a picture of Kano was used in place of Wiley, readers asked to know how it happened – and how it can be preventedAt 6am on Wednesday 29 July, an opinion piece by Owen Jones was published on the Guardian’s website. In Tackling racism on social media is just the tip of the iceberg, the writer set out his stall with reference to the grime artist Wiley, whose recent antisemitic posts would eventually lead to him being banned from Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.The article’s main image purported to show Wiley but, as readers would soon point out, was in fact of fellow grime pioneer, songwriter and actor Kano. The picture was changed immediately the newsdesk was alerted at about 7.45am. The paper’s head of opinion, Jonathan Shainin, followed up by apologising privately to Kano and later that day the Guardian publicly issued an unreserved apology. Continue reading…

When a picture of Kano was used in place of Wiley, readers asked to know how it happened – and how it can be prevented

At 6am on Wednesday 29 July, an opinion piece by Owen Jones was published on the Guardian’s website. In Tackling racism on social media is just the tip of the iceberg, the writer set out his stall with reference to the grime artist Wiley, whose recent antisemitic posts would eventually lead to him being banned from Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

The article’s main image purported to show Wiley but, as readers would soon point out, was in fact of fellow grime pioneer, songwriter and actor Kano. The picture was changed immediately the newsdesk was alerted at about 7.45am. The paper’s head of opinion, Jonathan Shainin, followed up by apologising privately to Kano and later that day the Guardian publicly issued an unreserved apology.

Continue reading…