A Tennessee newspaper has fired a manager and apologised for a “horrific” full-page advert that claimed there was a plot by unspecified Muslim groups to detonate a nuclear device in Nashville.
The Tennessean newspaper has apologised for the full-page advert in Sunday's edition and an investigation found that three members of the advertising team had the opportunity to review the advert before it ran but that neither they nor the design team fully read through the text.
The advertising manager who failed to fully review or flag the advert was fired on Monday.
"The ad is horrific and is utterly indefensible in all circumstances. It is wrong, period, and should have never been published," Vice President and Editor Michael A. Anastasi said. "It has hurt members of our community and our own employees and that saddens me beyond belief. It is inconsistent with everything The Tennessean as an institution stands and has stood for."
The newspaper said it is donating the $14,000 value of the advert to a local Islamic advocacy group and giving the Muslim Advisory Council $50,000 of credit for advertising in the newspaper.
"We apologize for publishing this ad and we specifically apologize to the Muslim community, in Nashville and more broadly. This should have never happened," said Kathy Jack-Romero, the president of local sales for the paper's parent company Gannett.
The posting by the religious group calling themselves Future for America claimed that Donald Trump “is the final president of the USA” and features a photo of Mr Trump and Pope Francis. It begins by claiming that a nuclear device would be detonated in Nashville and that the attack would be carried out by unspecific interests of “Islam.”
The group also ran a full-page ad in last Wednesday’s editions of the newspaper stating its intention to warn Nashville residents about next month’s event “so that they may be able to make a decision intelligently.”
Local council member Zulfat Suara, the first American Muslim to hold office in Nashville, said that the move by the paper was a start but more was needed to build trust with the local Muslim community.
We got the apology. That was nice and dandy, but that’s not enough… For us, it’s making sure it doesn’t happen again,” Ms Suara said. "For us, it’s making sure it doesn’t happen to another community."
The group Future for America, based in Arkansas, warns of so-called end-of-the-world Bible prophecies whose fulfilment “is no longer future—for it is taking place before our eyes.”
