Summary of complaint
We’ve received complaints from people who felt our reports on the death of Charlie Kirk were biased against his views. We’ve also received complaints from people who felt our coverage was biased towards Charlie Kirk and/or don’t focus on the controversies of his views.
Our response
Across our reporting we have generally referred to Mr Kirk as a ‘right-wing activist’, which we believe is an accurate, fair and duly impartial description of where Mr Kirk stood on the political spectrum and his campaigning through Turning Point USA, the organisation Mr Kirk co-founded in 2012 to advocate for conservatism on college campuses.
As one of the biggest conservative influencers in the US today, we have highlighted that Charlie Kirk was seen as both the future of conservative activism and as a highly polarising figure, with his comments on gender, race and politics often drawing fierce liberal criticism.
We heard from contributors who knew Charlie Kirk and shared his political views. We also heard critical voices of those views.