As you’re no doubt aware, a photograph purporting to show the successful test firing of four missiles by Iran was revealed to have been manipulated. In fact, only three missiles were successfully fired. The image, provided by the Iranian government, was distributed by Agence-France Presse and used by many media outlets. You can view some [...]
ON June 16, 2008, in an article entitled ‘Bellamy African ‘assault’ is denied’, we reported allegations that Craig Bellamy had attacked a charity worker and had to be forcibly removed from a casino in Sierra Leone. We now accept that these allegations were untrue.
In fact, Mr Bellamy has been giving his personal time and money, [...]
ON 26 May last under the headline “2nd Bus Test for O’Brien” we published a report concerning John O’Brien, the husband of the late Meg Walsh, who had been acquitted of her murder, in which he was described as a wife-beater.
The report was illustrated by a photograph captioned to identify the subject as John O’Brien. [...]
ON May 18, 2008, we wrongly reported that ex-detective sergeant Ronnie Wilkinson had been identified as a suspect in the killing of Sheila Anderson.
Mr Wilkinson has never been a suspect in the investigation and has only ever assisted police as a witness.
We unreservedly apologise to Mr Wilkinson and his family for the distress caused as [...]
On 2 June 2008 we published an article which referred to the art collection of Sir Anthony and Lady Chryss O Reilly. We also referred to a book commissioned by the O Reillys, containing reproductions of the items in their collection and a commentary upon them.
The article wrongly suggested that Sir Anthony had misappropriated funds [...]
IN a recent article by Gold Coast Bulletin journalist, Kathleen Donaghey (Banned on the run - Kiwis canned, May 10, 2008), The Gold Coast Bulletin reported as fact a number of allegations concerning the Musicians Union of Australia and the extent to which the Musicians Union of Australia was alleged to have interfered to cancel [...]
In articles published on 23 and 26 May 2008, we gave the impression that Mr Gest had contracted a sexually transmitted infection and alleged that he had Liza Minnelli’s dog killed without her knowledge.
This was wrong. David Gest has never had a sexually transmitted infection and did not have Ms Minnelli’s dog killed.
We apologise to [...]
Contrary to the impression given by the headline to the Pandora column on 13 June, the Temporary Denial Order imposed by the US Department of Commerce on a number of companies including Balli Group plc does not relate to arms but to passenger airplanes. We accept [...]
A contributor to Web Worker Daily has been fired after he stole a post from MakeUseOf.com. The site posted an apology last week:
Earlier today, we posted an item written by one of our freelance contributors about little-used features of Gmail. What we did not realize was that the post lifted from an item published three [...]
A LETTER to the Editor from Dr Bryan Walpole in the Mercury on Tuesday, 10 June 2008, headed “Gay blood”, made a number of claims about the actions of Mr Bill Bowtell in relation to the policy of the then Australian government on HIV/Aids and in particular to the policy on gay men donating blood.
The [...]
This ranks as one of the stranger recent examples of journalistic malfeasance. As noted by Romenesko (and a variety of readers who sent it in), a syndicated music columnist has resigned after a paper he wrote for became aware that he had used a ghost writer “to produce more than 100 stories and columns since [...]
A photo caption accompanying a June 6 article entitled “B. C. Internet firm pays $9M to avoid U. S. gambling charges” incorrectly stated that Dan Parmar is the chief financial officer of ESI Entertainment Systems Inc. and that Mr. Parmar agreed to have ESI pay $9-million in profits in civil forfeiture to the U. S. [...]
In The Independent Extra on 18 March 2008, we incorrectly suggested that David Gest had alleged that Liza Minnelli gave him herpes. Mr Gest has told us, which we accept, that he did not make any such allegation and that he has never had the disease. We apologise to Mr Gest for any embarrassment [...]
OUR February 21 report of the BRIT Awards headed “Ozzy’s Freak Show” reported that Ozzy Osbourne had thrown the BRIT Awards into chaos after he suffered a health scare, toppling over twice, just before the Awards ceremony.
We claimed that BRITS bosses held emergency talks about whether to send the Prince of Darkness to hospital and [...]
The Vancouver Province has canceled a column by Dave Pratt, a Vancouver radio personality, after it was revealed he plagiarized from a Sports Illustrated article. The paper announced his firing in an article published yesterday.
…A reader alerted The Province to the plagiarism via e-mail after Pratt’s weekly column, called “Pratt’s Rant,” appeared in Tuesday’s editions [...]
IN several prominent articles in July 2006, we wrongly stated that during the World Cup final the Italian defender, Marco Materazzi, used vile racist abuse by calling Zinedine Zidane the son of a terrorist whore thus goading Zidane into angrily headbutting him. We also said that Mr Materazzi was a hypocritical liar when he denied [...]
Nate Lippens, a freelance art critic whose work has appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Stranger, has been exposed as a plagiarist.* Editor & Publisher has a story about his thefts, which were exposed by the Post-Intelligencer in a May 15 story and Note to Readers on the 14:
Work in the Seattle P-I by [...]
In Weekend TV (times2, May 5) we incorrectly suggested that David Gest had been given herpes by Liza Minnelli on their wedding night. This was entirely wrong. David Gest has never had the disease and has never actually accused Ms Minnelli of giving it to him. We apologise to Mr Gest for any embarrassment or [...]
El Mercurio, a Chilean newspaper, has published an interview with a man it says is Adolfo Flores, a person who has become the focus of a controversial New York Times story about the salmon industry. Flores makes several statements in the article that directly contradict information offered by the Times. If El Mercurio has the [...]
A report from the Mainichi Daily News:
The publisher of the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho has apologized after it ran a special on the alleged fatal beating of a junior sumo wrestler last year containing a photo of a wrestler who was not involved in the incident.
Officials from Shinchosha Publishing Co. apologized to the wrestler [...]
A report carried on nzherald.co.nz on May 13 wrongly stated that David Oughton, who inquired into the actions of Mary Anne Thompson at the immigration service, had once been her boss at the Ministry of Justice and that questions had therefore been raised about his report’s impartiality.
Mr Oughton was never her employer, having finished as [...]
ON November 3 and 4, 2005, The Australian published two prominent articles which made serious allegations against Sheik Abdul Salam Zoud on the basis of a speech the articles claimed he delivered. That speech was, in fact, delivered by someone else.
The Australian accepts that these allegations had seriously damaging effects on Sheik Abdul Salam Zoud [...]
AN article headlined “Natalie lifts the lid on dangers of Mr Wrong” published in Sydney Confidential on 7 April, 2008, reported that Mr Cameron Lamb tricked Ms Natalie Michael into getting married in Las Vegas. The Daily Telegraph accepts that this allegation is false and apologises to Mr Lamb for any hurt or embarrassment caused [...]
On Feb. 2, 2008, the Boston Herald reported that a member of the New England Patriots’ video staff taped the St. Louis Rams’ walkthrough on the day before Super Bowl XXXVI. While the Boston Herald based its Feb. 2, 2008, report on sources that it believed to be credible, we now know that this report [...]
Last week I received an email from CounterPoint Strategies, a PR firm that helps “clients confront volatile media circumstances.” They pointed me to a release by Salmon of the Americas Inc., an industry trade group, that raised several questions about a recent article by New York Times Reporter Alexei Barrionuevo.
CounterPoint contacted me because it saw [...]
