The highest recorded volume of complaints has been made to a UK media watchdog against right-wing news outlets accused of a coordinated smear of Misan Harriman, an Oscar-nominated photographer and Southbank Centre chair.
The complaint tool, set up by media accountability platform NewsCord, surpassed 50,000 submissions after just 48 hours of being posted, and has now registered over 80,000 complaints.
This more than triples the previous record of around 25,000 complaints made to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) over Jeremy Clarkson’s 2022 column on Meghan Markle in The Sun.
Harriman came under attack by the British press after sharing a post questioning why the police and media ignored a Muslim victim targeted prior to the Golders Green attack on two Jewish men.
He also shared a video focused on community building in light of Reform's local election wins, which used a quote from Jewish-American writer Susan Sontag about human behaviour.
He was accused of spreading a “Golders Green ‘conspiracy’”, despite the question he raised being based in fact – the papers repeatedly referred to “two men stabbed”, when it was in fact three – and even though the press used an out-of-context clip from the video to falsely allege he was comparing Reform voters to the Nazis.
In response, more than 250 celebrities have signed an open letter backing Harriman – including Gary Lineker, Louis Theroux, Annie Lennox, Greta Thunberg and Mark Ruffalo.
The letter, published by non-profit organisation Good Law Project, says that “the purpose of the smear campaign, which… is entirely without foundation in fact, is to traduce and marginalise Misan” as well as “to send a message to others that if they speak out, they will be subject to harassment and threats”.
“We believe that safeguarding freedom of expression is essential to a healthy democracy. And that trying to silence critics of Israel by smearing them as antisemitic does not protect Britain’s Jewish community," the letter continued.
Harriman is a long-time activist for social justice: as an ambassador for Save the Children, a nominee for Amnesty UK’s People’s Human Rights Champion and an advocate against genocide in Sudan, Congo and Gaza.
Harriman regularly photographs London's pro-Palestine marches, including a 2024 image of a Muslim man and a Jewish man holding a sign together calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, which was auctioned to raise money for Palestine.
'[This is] seemingly aimed at whipping up a furore to engineer an ever-growing environment of cancel culture'
“We stand with Misan Harriman,” concluded the letter, which has so far attracted over 15,000 signatories.
On Tuesday, a separate letter was also sent by a cross-party group of 20 parliamentarians to culture secretary Lisa Nandy, denouncing the campaign against Harriman, saying the media coverage has sought to "mischaracterise him".
"The smear campaign against Mr Harriman has attempted to portray his words in a selective manner, seemingly aimed at whipping up a furore to engineer an ever-growing environment of cancel culture," they wrote.
The parliamentarians said the campaign has been deployed by "certain right wing media outlets and backed by right wing politicians" and that its goal is "closing the space for free speech, fair critique or to justify media attacks which further marginalise minority communities".
The signatories include Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Labour MPs John McDonnell and Naz Shah, and Adrian Ramsay and Carla Denyer of the Greens.
Their letter raised concern over a “rising tendency to pressure institutions and public bodies to distance themselves from individuals who engage in legitimate public discourse”, which risked “deepening division rather than fostering social cohesion”.
Within the space of a week, four right-wing media outlets ran almost identical pieces slandering Harriman, who is openly pro-Palestine and chair of the Southbank Centre, a major, publicly-funded arts institution.
The first was published in The Telegraph by arts correspondent Craig Simpson on 6 May, accusing Harriman of sharing a “Golders Green ‘conspiracy’” after he questioned on social media why the press and Metropolitan Police had not reported on the third victim – a Muslim – who was stabbed prior to the attack on two Jewish men in Golders Green.
