Questions raised about 'journalistic standards' over The New York Times' The Trojan Horse Affair podcast

• In 2014, a fake letter sent to a UK council claimed Muslim extremists had infiltrated its schools.
• The Trojan Horse Affair, an NYT podcast investigating the scandal, has caused controversy.

An eight-part podcast series from The New York Times called The Trojan Horse Affair began this month to investigate the "islamophobic hoax" that sent shockwaves through the UK's educational system.

In 2013, an anonymous letter received by Birmingham council, England, claimed that senior teaching staff at several local schools had been infiltrated by hardline Islamic extremists - dubbed Trojan horses.

The letter caused much concern and was investigated by police and the council.

It was quickly found to be a forgery, its author was never known, but it was the catalyst for a series of government inquiries that led to five schools being put into special measures and teachers being banned from the classroom.

The NYT's Trojan Horse Affair podcast, by investigative reporter Brian Reed and British Pakistani doctor-turned-journalist Hamza Syed, takes as its starting point an anonymous letter and argues that Islamophobia could have driven the plot.

It has been the subject of conflicting reviews, with some saying the podcast showed how "it was so easy for Muslims in British education to be branded a wholesale threat by politicians, the media and even their colleagues."

Speaking to The Guardian before the release of the podcast, Samira Shackle, a freelance journalist who investigated the scandal in 2017, said, "People who were involved have a sense of being hard done by and wanting the case to be heard," she said.

Other critics have slammed it as "one-sided" and "breaching journalistic standards" in The Times and The Guardian.

"The Trojan Horse Affair presents a one-sided account that minimizes child protection concerns, misogyny and homophobia. In doing so, it breaches the standards the public has the right to expect of journalists," wrote Sonia Sodha, chief leader writer at the Observer.

The podcast has also been accused of "reopening old wounds," a senior teacher told The Times at one of the indicted schools.

More seriously, The Times reports that the podcast may be in contempt of court, and the British government had to issue a legal warning to the publishers for naming a whistleblower who was granted immunity in a tribunal case related to the scandal.

Being in contempt of court can lead to a jail sentence.

However, a spokesperson for The New York Times told Insider that "the podcast did not reveal the identities of anonymous whistleblowers."

The show has also been criticized for interviewing Razwan Faraz. The teacher, sacked as a result of the investigation into Birmingham schools, was later found to have referred to gay people as "animals" and had commented on women belonging in the kitchen, reported The Times.

In a statement, a New York Times spokesman told Insider:

"Brian Reed and Hamza Syed spent more than three years reporting on "The Trojan Horse Affair," which underwent extensive fact-checking and legal review before publication.

"They produced the most comprehensive account to date of a matter of huge national importance and debate, and pointed to potentially unethical and incompetent conduct on the part of state and local officials. Their investigation revealed that senior politicians knowingly used the bogus Trojan Horse letter to justify sweeping intervention in Muslim communities, that those who had possible knowledge of the letter's author looked the other way, and that this letter was entered as evidence before a judge, despite officials doubting its credibility.

"Over its eight parts, their reporting raises serious questions about the veracity of the official report into the Trojan Horse affair and the failure of authorities and the media to responsibly investigate the potential origin and author of the letter and the seismic policy and cultural shifts that followed.

"In addition, the series details problems of gender discrimination, homophobia and child protection that were found in Birmingham schools, while exploring in a nuanced way the damage that can occur when these issues are portrayed as endemic to minority communities or to Islamic religious practice. Their reporting is fair and accurate and The New York Times stands behind it. Millions of listeners in the U.K. and around the world have taken the time to engage with the podcast and the facts it has revealed.

"We understand the significance of reporting restrictions and believe the podcast complies with all relevant restrictions."