Students have criticised the Sun newspaper after they say they were offered thousands of pounds to take and provide photographs of other students dressed up as “Jihadi John” or the murdered UK hostage Alan Henning for Halloween.

They claim they were also told that if they could get photographs of students dressed as Ebola victims or in other controversial outfits, these could make a front-page story.

Student newspapers that were contacted include the University of Manchester’s Mancunion, the University of Bath student newspaper Bath Impact, and Leeds University’s The Gryphon.

One of the editors at the Mancunion says: “Our editor-in-chief was phoned by a reporter claiming to be from the Sun, who offered him thousands of pounds if he could find a picture of a student dressed up as either ‘Jihadi John’, a name given to a British member of Isis said to be behind several beheading incidents this year, or Alan Henning, the Salford resident who was killed by Isis at the beginning of October.

“They implied that if we could make that happen, they would reward us and if we wanted to go even further, there would be even more reward.

“We felt that it was really shocking and we had to write something about it, because obviously we weren’t going to find them a picture.”

Mancunion staff were particularly offended because Alan Henning was from Greater Manchester and his death had been a shock to the student community there.

One of the editors says: “We felt that they were trying to misrepresent students, by trying to get us to send something that would not only make students look bad but that would also be completely insensitive, especially for Manchester students. Manchester students have been very affected by Alan Henning’s execution.”

Joel Smith, activities officer at Manchester student union, told the Mancunion: “We strongly condemn this journalistic approach which sought to damage the integrity of both our union and the Mancunion.

“The reputational damage to any individual who does end up on the cover of [a paper] could really affect them, and the paper is showing blatant disregard for this.”

Ben Butcher, a reporter at Bath Impact who was also contacted, says: “A woman claiming to be from the Sun phoned on Wednesday afternoon to ask if we were planning on sending any photographers out to cover Halloween events.

“We were told that pictures of ‘Jihadi Johns’ would be a front-page story, but Ebola victims would also be good.

“They said a substantial financial reward would be offered. They wanted to portray all students as stupid – based on the actions of a few. We wouldn’t want to sell out the whole student body like that.”

Last year the Sun published photos of two University of Chester students who won a nightclub’s Halloween fancy-dress competition wearing costumes depicting the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. The pair were later forced to apologise.

A spokesperson for News International says: “The Sun was aware that there were Halloween parties taking place on student campuses, with reports of some interesting choices of costumes, and was calling student newspapers to see if they had photos that they might want to share with the newspaper. We categorically deny any suggestion that money was offered to construct or fake a photograph. Approaching other publications is a legitimate and often practiced journalism request which we stand by.”

• This article was amended on 16 December 2016 for privacy reasons.



