The New York Times has quietly re-recorded parts of a “one-sided” podcast about the Trojan Horse affair following complaints, The Telegraph has learned.

The series, which is one of the most downloaded podcasts on Apple iTunes and Spotify, promises to tell the true story of how an alleged plot by hardline Islamists to take over state schools in Birmingham in 2014 prompted a national inquiry.

The Government ordered an investigation after an anonymous letter – widely accepted at the time as a hoax – was sent to Birmingham council containing a series of claims about an attempt to impose ultra-conservative Islamist views on children in state schools across the city. 

But the podcast’s creators, Hamza Syed from Dudley and New York Times journalist podcaster Brian Reed, have been accused of presenting a “misleading picture” of events and exonerating Tahir Alam, the alleged ringleader of the plot, who was accused of orchestrating a plan to promote conservative religious teaching in schools.

Mr Alam, the former chairman of governors at Park View, is now banned by the Government from holding any leadership positions in British education after he was found to have undermined “fundamental British values”.

Peter Clarke, a former counter-terror chief who headed the independent investigation into Trojan Horse, found that under Mr Alam’s leadership, Park View “sought to export its Islamising blueprint” to other schools.

Failure to keep children safe

Mr Alam, who alleges that the various inquiries were driven by Islamophobia, was also found by an independent tribunal to be responsible for serious failings across several schools including the failure to keep children safe from extremist views.

Several individuals have submitted complaints to The New York Times about their reporting of events, including Richy Thompson of Humanists UK, an organisation which worked closely with whistle-blowers to raise concerns at the time.

“We believe the podcast presents a misleading account of our own involvement in these events,” Humanists UK said. “We have sought and continue to seek corrections and retractions from the NYT. To date they have made one correction but we still hope for more.”

The podcast originally described Mr Thompson as “dodging” and “equivocating”, with the podcast’s main presenter Brian Reed adding: “He said at some point he was in touch with some other people from Park View, but wouldn’t tell us how many, what they said.”

Following a complaint from Mr Thompson, this section has now been edited to say: “He said he was in touch with two or three other people from Park View, who shared similar concerns….who alleged there’d been instances of gender discrimination and homophobia at the school. And he said as time went on he felt the allegations were corroborated by other reporting.”

A note with the correction appears on The New York Times’ webpage about the series although it is not highlighted in the audio itself, nor is it featured on the various podcast apps.

Colin Diamond, a professor of educational leadership at Birmingham University who was hired by Birmingham Council to turn schools around in the wake of the Trojan Horse scandal, claimed that the podcast was “unethical” and “one-sided”.

Nick Timothy, a Daily Telegraph columnist and former special adviser at the Home Office between 2010 and 2015, accused the podcast of “attempting to rewrite the history of Trojan Horse” by putting a “fantasy narrative” above “established evidence and provable facts”.

Forced to retract

In December 2020, The New York Times was forced to retract parts of its award-winning podcast, Caliphate, about a Canadian claiming to be an Isil executioner after establishing it was a hoax.

The podcast was downloaded 25million times and won numerous awards. It led to intense debate in Canada’s parliament with leader Justin Trudeau being accused of allowing “bloodthirsty terrorists to walk on our streets”.

Questions were soon raised, however, about the protagonist’s fantastical story of participating in executions and witnessing other atrocities in Syria before smuggling himself back to Canada.

Following the podcast’s publication, the 25-year-old Canadian was charged under the country’s terrorism hoax law with fabricating his story. A deal was later reached with prosecutors under which he admitted that he had never travelled to Syria.

A spokesperson for The New York Times said: “Brian Reed and Hamza Syed spent more than three years rigorously reporting on The Trojan Horse Affair to expose the truth about a damaging piece of misinformation that has shaped British policy and society. 

“Their reporting is fair and accurate and the leadership of The New York Times stands behind it. We hope listeners will take time to engage with the reporting and the facts the series has revealed.”

A government spokesman said: “We make no apology for working to protect young people from all forms of harm. All children, from whatever background and no matter what challenges they face, deserve a safe environment in which they can learn.”