Mehdi Hasan, the Huffington Post journalist who attacked the Daily Mail last month for its portrayal of Ralph Miliband as “the man who hated Britain”, has won the prize for personality of the year at the Asian Media Awards.
Hasan received his award yesterday at the in inaugural Asian Media Awards.
In an early October broadcast of Question Time Hasan stated that he believed it was not Ralph Miliband who hated Britain, but the “immigrant bashing, women hating, Muslim smearing, NHS undermining, gay bating Daily Mail.”
A Guido Fawkes blog post later appeared with Hasan’s application letter for a column in which he said he had “always admired the paper’s passion, rigour, boldness and of course, news values”. The letter was later published in the Daily Mail.
Hasan, who worked for BBC1’s The Politics Show, Sky’s breakfast show Sunrise, and the New Statesman before being appointed political director of The Huffington Post UK in 2012, said: “I’m thrilled to have won this award. It’s great to receive recognition from both my peers and the community so this is like a double win.
“My view is that the British media has a long way to go before it can truly say it’s done enough to create a diverse workforce, but these awards are giving us the chance to shout about what we do and be counted.”
Among the Asian Media Awards winners were also Jimmi Harkishin, who has played the part of Dev Alahan in Coronation Street since 1999, Jamila Massey, one of the first Asian actresses to ever appear on British TV in 1960, and Adil Ray, who plays Mr Khan in BBC sitcom Citizen Khan.
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