TVA issues full apology one year after debunked mosque reports

A year after TVA Nouvelles aired widely discredited news reports claiming that two mosques in Côte-des-Neiges barred women from a construction site outside their doors, the news organization apologized in full on Thursday — on its website.

A year after TVA Nouvelles aired widely discredited news reports claiming that two mosques in Côte-des-Neiges barred women from a construction site outside their doors, the news organization apologized in full on Thursday — on its website.

The original reports sparked widespread condemnation, and were immediately denounced as false and Islamophobic by leaders of the Baitul-Mukkaram Mosque and the Ahlulbait Islamic Organization.

On Dec. 15, 2017, the news organization issued a partial apology, explaining that two entrepreneurs who had spoken initially to TVA Nouvelles later changed their stories. The TV network vowed to carry out an internal investigation “to validate the steps in the journalistic process that were taken” in the reporting.

At 5 p.m. Thursday, TVA released a full apology, announcing that its investigation found that “the information disseminated was inaccurate and unfounded.”

“TVA offers its most sincere apologies to the Baitul-Mukkaram Mosque and the Ahl-III-Bait Islamic Organization as well as to their leaders, members and followers for all the damage and inconvenience caused by these reports,” reads the apology.