The Trojan Horse Affair

Last updated

The Trojan Horse Affair is a 2022 podcast about the Trojan Horse scandal. [1] [2] [3] The eight-episode series is hosted by Brian Reed, formerly a producer of This American Life and host of the podcast S-Town , and Hamza Syed, a reporter from Birmingham, England where the Trojan Horse scandal had unfolded. [4]

Contents

Background

Syed, a former doctor attending journalism school, approached Reed after an event where Reed discussed his podcast S-Town. Syed pitched the idea of re-examining the Trojan Horse scandal, specifically to try to learn who had written the anonymous letter at the heart of the scandal, alleging a conspiracy by Muslims to take over schools for religious purposes. While the letter had become a national scandal in Britain, costing educators their jobs and affecting national policy, the subject of the letter’s provenance had gone mostly ignored. [3] Syed felt that identifying the author would seriously revise the public understanding of the scandal, and thus Islamophobia in Britain broadly. [3] Reed agreed to help him investigate. The work began as a story for This American Life, but expanded and was ultimately published by Serial and The New York Times .

Episodes

All eight episodes debuted together on February 3, 2022.

EpisodeTitleDescription
1The Letter in the Brown Paper Envelope
2The Case of the Four Resignations
3Sir Albert and the Missing "H"
4The Meeting and the Mole
5A Study in Scarlett
6Cucumbers and Cooker Bombs
7The Detail of the Deputies
8An Appointment in PerthThe pursuit of the story takes Brian and Hamza to Australia

Reception

On Fresh Air, Nicholas Quah praised the podcast as “a thrilling audio documentary… It excels in bringing you inside the investigation. You feel the excitement of excavating a new document, a new lead, a new name." He also felt "the experience takes on a richer dimension when the series reveals itself to also be about the different ways of looking at the role of journalism in the world,” examining the different perspectives Syed and Reed bring to their reporting given differences in race, religion, nationality and professional backgrounds. [4] In The Guardian , Alexi Duggins said, "The storytelling is as hooky as you’d expect, given it was part created by S-Town’s Brian Reed." [2]

Also in the Guardian, [5] Sonia Sodha said, “The Trojan Horse Affair presents a one-sided account that minimises child protection concerns, misogyny and homophobia in order to exonerate the podcast’s hero, a man called Tahir Alam”. Serial Productions sent a right-of-reply response to the Guardian prior to publication, which it claimed rebutted Sodha's arguments and which Vulture described as "largely ignored." [6]

Writing in the Spectator, [7] Birmingham Labour MP Khalid Mahmood (who was involved in the response to the original letter) [8] said The New York Times "has blundered again, emboldening the worst elements of the community. Our city deserves better.”

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khalid Mahmood (British politician)</span> British Labour politician

Khalid Mahmood is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Perry Barr since 2001. He served on the Labour front bench as a shadow Foreign Office minister under leader Jeremy Corbyn, and a shadow Defence minister under leader Keir Starmer until his resignation in 2021. He is also the longest serving Asian MP in the current Parliament.

<i>S-Town</i> American investigative journalism podcast

S-Town is an American investigative journalism podcast hosted by Brian Reed and created by the producers of Serial and This American Life. All seven chapters were released on March 28, 2017. The podcast was downloaded a record-breaking 10 million times in four days and had been downloaded over 80 million times by May 2020.

The Trojan Horse scandal, also known as "Operation Trojan Horse" or the Trojan Horse affair, is a conspiracy theory that posits a plot to introduce an "Islamist" or "Salafist" ethos into several schools in Birmingham, England. The name, based on the Greek legend, comes from an anonymous letter sent to Birmingham City Council in late 2013, alleged to be from Birmingham "Islamists" detailing how to wrest control of a school, and speculating about expanding the scheme to other cities. The letter was leaked to the press in March 2014. Around a month later, Birmingham City Council revealed that following the letter release it had received hundreds of allegations of plots similar to those described in the letter, some claims dating back over 20 years. The letter has been characterised as "incomplete, unsigned and unaddressed", but led to two investigations commissioned by the Department for Education and Birmingham City Council, the Clarke and Kershaw Reports, respectively. The reports did not both endorse the idea of "a plot", but point to "behaviour indicative of a concerted attempt to change schools".

<i>Serial</i> (podcast) American investigative journalism podcast

Serial is an investigative journalism podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig, narrating a nonfiction story over multiple episodes. The series was co-created and is co-produced by Koenig and Julie Snyder and developed by This American Life; as of July 2020, it is owned by The New York Times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Timothy</span> British political adviser

Nicholas James Timothy is a British former political adviser. He served as Joint Downing Street Chief of Staff, alongside Fiona Hill, to Prime Minister Theresa May, until his resignation in the wake of the 2017 general election. In July 2023, he was selected as the Conservative prospective Parliamentary candidate for the West Suffolk constituency.

<i>A Very Fatal Murder</i> Satirical true crime podcast

A Very Fatal Murder is a podcast produced by the satirical publication The Onion. A parody of true crime podcasts, A Very Fatal Murder is hosted by fictional New York City reporter David Pascall, who travels to the small town Bluff Springs, Nebraska to investigate the murder of prom queen Hayley Price. Pascall is voiced by David Sidorov, who also wrote for the podcast. The podcast premiered on January 23, 2018, and consists of 7 episodes. Season 2 was released in its entirety on May 11, 2019.

<i>The Clearing</i> (podcast) True crime podcast

The Clearing is a 2019 true crime podcast about April Balascio, daughter of American serial killer Edward Wayne Edwards. It premiered on 18 July 2019 and is a production of Pineapple Street Media and Gimlet Media. In 2009, April began to suspect her father of the 1980 murder of Tim Hack and Kelly Drew. Following her report to the police, Edwards was arrested and confessed to several other murders. He later became the subject of conspiracy theories accusing him of involvement in famous unsolved crimes. Featuring interviews from April and private recordings made by Edwards while he was living, The Clearing discusses April's journey to discover the truth about her father's life.

<i>The Case Against Adnan Syed</i> 2019 TV series

The Case Against Adnan Syed is a 2019 true-crime docuseries about Adnan Syed's murder conviction for the killing of Hae Min Lee. It was directed by Amy J. Berg and produced by Working Title Television, among others. The first episode of the four-part series premiered March 10, 2019, on HBO.

<i>West Cork</i> (podcast) Crime podcast

West Cork is a non-fiction podcast series reported and hosted by Sam Bungey and Jennifer Forde, about the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in Drinane, County Cork on 23 December 1996. The 13-episode series premiered as an Audible original on 8 February 2018, as a binge, and was made freely available widely as a podcast in 2021. A new episode of the series was released on 14 May 2021, detailing the trial in absentia of the main suspect.

Nicholas Quah is a journalist for Vulture and is the creator of the Nieman Lab newsletter Hot Pod News.

<i>Lost Notes</i> Music podcast by KCRW

Lost Notes is a music podcast that was hosted by Jessica Hopper and later hosted by Hanif Abdurraqib and produced by KCRW.

<i>Surviving Y2K</i> 2018 podcast by Dan Taberski

Surviving Y2K was a podcast hosted by Dan Taberski and produced by Pineapple Street Media and Topic Studios.

<i>Running From Cops</i> 2019 podcast by Dan Taberski

Running From Cops is a podcast hosted by Dan Taberski and produced by Pineapple Street Media and Topic Studios.

Brittany Luse is an American podcast host. In October 2022, she became the host of NPR's current events and culture podcast, It's Been a Minute. She previously hosted the podcasts For Colored Nerds and The Nod, both about Black culture, and Sampler, about other podcasts. In 2020, The Nod was adapted as a short-form video streaming show on Quibi.

<i>The Battersea Poltergeist</i> Horror podcast by BBC Radio 4

The Battersea Poltergeist is a horror podcast and audio drama produced by BBC Radio 4 and presented by Danny Robins. The show was nominated for a British Podcast Award, Audio and Radio Industry Award, and a New York Festivals Radio Award. The podcast was later adapted into two television series.

Imaginary Advice is an experimental audio fiction podcast by Ross Sutherland.

We Were Three is a podcast about COVID-19 denialism produced by The New York Times's podcast production company, Serial Productions. The podcast was hosted by Nancy Updike and was about Rachel McKibbens.

The Retrievals is a podcast by Serial Productions and The New York Times and hosted by Susan Burton.

Emmanuel Dzotsi is an English American radio journalist. He was a co-host of the podcasts Serial and Reply All.

References

  1. ↑ Sturges, Fiona (2022-02-07). "The Trojan Horse Affair — promising podcast from Serial producers falls flat". Financial Times. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  2. 1 2 "Best podcasts of the week: the Serial team tackle Islamophobia in Birmingham". the Guardian. 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  3. 1 2 3 Miller, Laura (2022-02-03). "The New Serial Podcast Comes the Closest Yet to Re-Creating the Appeal of Season 1". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  4. 1 2 Quah, Nicholas (February 15, 2022). "'The Trojan Horse Affair' is Serial's best podcast since 'S-Town'". Fresh Air. NPR. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
  5. ↑ Sodha, Sonia (2022-02-20). "The Trojan Horse Affair: how Serial podcast got it so wrong". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712 . Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  6. ↑ Quah, Nicholas (2022-03-03). "The Trojan Horse Affair vs. the British Press". Vulture. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  7. ↑ Mahmood, Khalid (2022-02-24). "What the New York Times gets wrong about the 'Trojan Horse Affair'". The Spectator. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  8. ↑ Adams, Richard (2014-06-08). "Is the Trojan horse row just a witch hunt triggered by a hoax?". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2023-11-30.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.