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Daily Mail demeans female scientists

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newsnight, daily mail, astronomy,Shocking diary entry attacked two of the BBC’s Newsnight guests on the basis of their gender and race.

Last week the Daily Mail’s Ephraim Hardcastle (aka Peter Mackay) wrote: ‘Newsnight’s Guardian-trained editor, Ian Katz, is keen on diversity.

‘So, two women were invited to comment on the report about (white, male) American scientists who’ve detected the origins of the universe – giggling Sky at Night presenter Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Sri Lanka-born astronomer Hiranya Peiris.’

David Price, Vice-Provost for Research at UCL, has since written an open letter of complaint to the Daily Mail’s editor Paul Dacre.

Dr Peiris, a reader in Astronomy at University College London (UCL), and a Royal Astronomical Society award-winner, said: ‘I deeply pity the sort of person who can watch a report about ground-breaking news on the origins of the universe and everything in it, and see only the gender and skin colour of the panellists’

‘I am disturbed that he has even erased the contributions of all of the non-white and non-male and non-American scientists involved in the discovery at the same time.’

Dr Aderin-Pocock, an honorary research associate in UCL’s department of physics and astronomy, added: ‘I find Ephraim Hardcastle’s idea very interesting, I now picture the Newsnight team flipping through their Rolodex, saying ‘too white, too male… ah, two ethnic minority females, perfect!’.

‘Monday was a very busy day for me, receiving 10 requests for news interviews, I was able to do Radio 4’s PM programme, 5 Live, Channel 5 News and Newsnight.

‘I believe that the requests were made for my ability to translate complex ideas into something accessible, rather than my gender or the colour of my skin.’

To complain, Tweet the Mail at @MailOnline or contact the Press Complaints Commission.

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