The 16 times mainstream media gave a voice to Anjem Choudary to spout hate

After years of courting controversy in the UK media with his loud-mouthed support of militant attacks, controversial UK cleric Anjem Choudary is now facing jail for inviting support for the Islamic State (IS) group.

For years, however, Choudary - a former underwear stall owner from south London - was a regular guest on TV and radio news shows in the UK, US and even Denmark. He was repeatedly asked to feature on flagship prime-time news shows, where he was invited to promote his violent rhetoric to millions of viewers worldwide, allowing him to build an international following.

BBC

The BBC repeatedly invited Choudary to feature on its programming, including the widely respected Newsnight. 

1. In one of his two Newsnight appearances, Choudary did not deny that in his utopian “Islamic” caliphate, he would execute "apostate" Maajid Nawaz, a former UK politician who campaigns against extremism. 

Despite Choudary's statements and his conviction for inviting support for IS, the BBC re-posted Anjem’s incendiary outburst from its archives on Tuesday. 

2.

Choudary also appeared on the BBC when he proclaimed that he spoke for all Muslims by saying that “not many Muslims disagree with” the Woolwich attackers, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, who brutally killed British soldier Lee Rigby in 2013.

3.

After his conviction on Tuesday, the BBC ran the story "How Anjem Choudary's mouth was finally shut," stating that “Choudary loved the limelight and revelled in media attention”. 

However, its journalists have complained that they were ridiculed for trying to restrict Choudary's appearances. 

BBC3 radio journalist Iain Lee claimed on Wednesday that he and a colleague “got flack at @bbc3cr when we cancelled an interview with Choudary that had been booked”. 

Fox News

Choudary has similarly been a regular on the Hannity show on Fox news, appearing three times in the span of five months between 2014 and 2015. The station is currently the number one prime-time channel in the US with an average of 2.2 million viewers. 

5. Then again talking about the beheading of American journalist James Foley in August 2014. 

6. Then, when Choudary was arrested for suspicion of supporting and encouraging the Islamic State the following month, Fox decided to give him his first interview after the arrest.

7. And in January 2015, despite having been charged as a terrorism suspect, he was invited on again to give his views on the Charlie Hebdo attack, carried out by supporters of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. 

CNN

8. CNN has also wanted him to discuss and give his views on the Charlie Hebdo killings in which 12 people were killed. 

9. Nor was this the first time. Back in 2010, Choudary was invited to talk about terror attacks with the presenter starting the interview with the irony-free question: "Do you not worry that it is your voice that's helping radicalise people who want to do this?"

10. This CNN presenter introduced Choudary as a "radical Islamic preacher" before going on to ask questions like "How are radical Islamic views spread?"

Channel 4

11. In May, 2013, Channel 4 also got on board and hosted Choudary, who had been widely accused of "brainwashing" one of the Woolwich attackers, and asked him to explain whether or not he had radicalised the London attacker.

GMTV

12. The media's relationship with Choudary goes way back. As early as 2009, Britain was waking up to Choudary sitting on the sofa of the GMTV show talking about Iraq and Afghanistan.

CBS News

13. CBS also hosted Choudary in their popular TV show 60 Minutes in June 2015:

CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network)

14. As has a Christian broadcasting network that brought him in to discuss Sharia law:

RT

15. Choudary has likewise been given a platform on Russian state-funded broadcaster RT. 

Denmark

16. His appeal has even spread to Europe, with Danish media wanting a piece of the action when they hosted him on one of their main TV channels.

Daily Star

Some media have dared to speak up about Choudary's increasing fame. In 2013, the Guardian published an open letter by Richard Peppiatt, a journalist with the Daily Star who famously resigned in 2011 over the tabloid paper's increasingly anti-Muslim coverage.

In his letter, Peppiatt accused the Daily Star proprietor Richard Desmond of allowing the tabloid to magnify its coverage of Choudary's comments. In the letter Peppiatt states: “Not that my involvement in stirring up a bit of light-hearted Islamophobia stopped there. Many a morning I've hit my speed dial button to Muslim rent-a-rant Anjem Choudary to see if he fancied pulling together a few lines about whipping drunks or stoning homosexuals.”

Al Jazeera presenter Mehdi Hasan was quick to call for Choudary to be shunned. Six years ago, he was one of the first people to call out the hypocrisy of featuring Choudary, penning a piece entitled "Please don't listen to Anjem Choudary".  

“Our sensationalist and irresponsible media has, in fact, been deeply complicit in the rise and rise of this fanatic, devoting quite disproportionate and counter-productive coverage to his various rantings," he wrote.