The aim of this paper is to study the relationship between media coverage of current affairs and the regular critical appraisal of this practice. This investigation is based on a single case study, in which a luggage handler at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport was initially described in the media as a potential Islamic terrorist, before being acknowledged to be the victim of a family plot against him. Three years later, a radio broadcast listener accused the media of being instrumental in producing what was described afterwards as the 'unfair suspicion'? of the luggage handler. This article describes the way in which critique functions, and examines how the media reported this affair at the time.