(Hold the Front Page) A Sikh charity has called on journalists to stop using the term “Asian” in their coverage of sexual grooming gang cases.
The Network of Sikh Organisations has made the plea in new media guidelines published following a meeting with the Independent Press Standards Organisation.
The charity has highlighted the cases of grooming gangs in Rochdale, Rotherham, Oxford and Telford as instances where they believe the term “Asian” should not have been used.
In said cases those convicted had been of largely, although not exclusively, Pakistani Muslim origin.
The NSO guidance states: “British Sikh and Hindu groups have consistently objected to the use of the word ‘Asian’ to describe those convicted in sexual grooming gang cases like in Rochdale, Rotherham, Oxford and Telford.”
