Regret the Error » Major Errors

Apology

Craig Silverman — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:00:17 +0000

A story in the November 9 edition of the Toronto Sun quoted several unsupported allegations about “alleged misspending” and “influence peddling” involving the Toronto Port Authority. The Toronto Sun has no knowledge and is aware of no evidence to substantiate those allegations. The article also wrongly cited claims that the TPA “cost taxpayers $10 million a year” when in fact it has been profitable in 2008 and 2009 and pays a royalty to the federal government. The Sun apologizes for the errors, innuendo and any injury or inconvenience that may have resulted from the publication of the article. Link

Apology

Craig Silverman — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:00:10 +0000

ON 18 September 2009, we published an article in which Warren Furman, also known as the Gladiator “Ace”, was reported as denying “internet rumours” that he had raped Jordan. In doing so, the article implied that these “rumours” were sufficiently serious to require a response from Mr Furman.
In fact the “internet rumours” consisted of very few ambiguous posts on an internet chat forum.

They have since been deleted. We wish to make it clear that neither the posts nor any other matter, provided the basis for the false suggestions that Mr Furman may have raped Jordan. We apologise unreservedly to Mr Furman for the distress and offence caused to him by the article appearing to suggest otherwise.

Late entry for apology of the year

Craig Silverman — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:00:37 +0000

ON 17 July 2008 in our front page article “Ron the Lash” we falsely reported that whilst recovering from an operation to his ankle Cristiano Ronaldo had “gone on a bender” at a Hollywood nightclub where he splashed out pounds 10,000 on champagne and vodka and threw his crutches to the ground and tried to dance on his uninjured foot.
We now accept that Cristiano did not “go on a bender”, did not drink any alcohol that evening, did not spend pounds 10,000 on alcohol, nor throw his crutches to the floor or try to dance.

We also accept that he did not act irresponsibly nor jeopardise his recovery and in fact made a full recovery from his injury in record time. We apologise to him for the embarrassment and offence caused and have agreed to pay him substantial damages and his legal costs. Link

Apology

Craig Silverman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:00:38 +0000

In the Daily Star of 27 October 2008, we published an article and photographs of Olga Kurylenko which stated that Ms Kurylenko had arranged a nude photoshoot immediately after the filming of Quantum Of Solace. We now accept that Ms Kurylenko did not arrange any such photoshoot after Quantum Of Solace and that this was incorrect.
We wish to set the record straight and apologise to Ms Kurylenko.

Sorry for calling you an “evil terrorist”

Craig Silverman — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:00:40 +0000

On 29 March and 1 April last year we reported that Mr Patel was an evil terrorist who had been jailed for his part in a transatlantic jet terror plot. While he had been convicted under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act of possessing material that might be useful to terrorists, the court accepted that he unwittingly held documents for a friend of his father. Mr Patel has never had any involvement with terrorism acts. We are happy to set the record straight and apologise to him. Link

Apology

Craig Silverman — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:00:57 +0000

EDDIE McGRADY MPIn our edition dated June 7, 2009 we published an article under the headline “I Wanna Live Like Commons People” regarding expense claims by Eddie McGrady MP.
We acknowledge that our article was unfair to Mr McGrady and that his expenses were in fact entirely justifiable.
Mr McGrady also pointed out, and we accept, that in his case the hotel provided better value for taxpayers than a claim for a second home in London.
Mr McGrady also remains fully committed to openness and transparency in relation to MPs expenses and supports the planned system overhaul.
We unreservedly apologise to Mr McGrady and very much regret any distress and embarrassment caused to him by publishing these allegations.

Sorry for calling you a drunk

Craig Silverman — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:00:48 +0000

In yesterday’s edition of the paper in the Pat Flanagan column under the heading ‘Just Put A Cork In It’ we falsely identified Mary Black as being a self-confessed alcoholic.
We accept that this allegation is absolutely untrue and has no basis or foundation in fact.
We unreservedly withdraw this allegation and apologise to Mary Black for the personal distress caused to her by this publication.

Blonde, but not a bimbo

Craig Silverman — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:00:45 +0000

IN A report on October 6 about an employment tribunal case involving Wirral West MP Stephen Hesford, it was stated that Mr Hesford had once branded the constituency’s Tory Parliamentary candidate a “blonde bimbo ” and had accused her of using politics in order to get back onto the TV.
This was incorrect and should never have appeared in the report.
Mr Hesford did not make such comments, although a leaflet put out by the local Labour Party, just before the 2005 general election campaign, drew attention to statements said to have been made by the Tory candidate about herself, including that she wanted to combine her work as a TV presenter and politics and that “as a blonde Scouser no one takes me seriously”.
We are happy to make the position clear and to apologise for our error.

Retraction

Craig Silverman — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:00:39 +0000

On July 24, 2009, Cityfile published an article entitled “Jim Dolan To Kill Christmas In July?” which contained speculation on the fate of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Radio City Rockettes. Click here for an important update on this article.

On July 27, 2009, Cablevision, Madison Square Garden, and Cablevision chief executive James Dolan filed a defamation lawsuit against Cityfile in New York State Supreme Court. We now realize that we could have done more to ensure that all relevant facts were included in the article. We have retracted the article and removed it from our website, and regret any negative and/or mistaken impressions that resulted from its publication. Cityfile and Madison Square Garden have since resolved all legal claims. And like all New Yorkers we’re extremely pleased to hear that the legendary show will remain an institution in this city for many years to come. Link

Gawker has some background here.

Thanks, Tom!

Retraction

Craig Silverman — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:41:20 +0000

Due to an editing error, the Sept. 18 Yellowknifer article “No hate complaints registered in NWT” alleged that Ottawa lawyer Richard Warman had posted many of the messages that formed part of his Internet hate propaganda complaint against Marc Lemire and Craig Harrison. That allegation is false. Yellowknifer retracts that statement and apologizes to Mr. Warman without reservation.

Apology

Craig Silverman — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:00:51 +0000

IN a report on May 5, 2009, headlined “Riddle of Boruc, the brunette and his hair straighteners”, we claimed that Artur Boruc had brought two girls to the house he shares with partner Sara Mannei and had sex with one of them. We published a picture which we said showed him straightening one of the girls’ hair. We now accept the picture was in fact of Mr Boruc and his younger sister Paulina in Poland some years earlier, and that neither did Mr Boruc invite back nor have sex with either of the girls in our story. We apologise to Mr Boruc and Ms Mannei for any embarrassment caused.

Apology over Al Qaeda remark

Craig Silverman — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:43:56 +0000

A columnist with The Punch, a Rupert Murdoch-owned website in Australia has apologized for what he calls “a stupid and offensive joke.” The apology:

A few weeks ago I made a stupid and offensive joke in a piece written in the immediate aftermath of the drawn opening Ashes Test.

It involved the alleged time-wasting tactics of the English side in the dying moments of the game, and referred to a private SMS exchange with a friend of mine which joked about the appearance of 12th man Bilal Shafayat.

While I wrote in the piece that the text message was clearly offensive – and had construed the piece as a self-deprecating look at the stupid behaviour of sports fans – the decision to publish this private SMS was of itself the truly stupid aspect of the article. This is because it was not only insulting and demeaning to a decent man and sporting professional in Bilal Shafayat, but anyone else who faces ridicule on the basis of their appearance.

I was going to apologise at the time and shut the piece but I didn’t, for two reasons. The first was that I didn’t want to be accused of trying to whip the issue up to drive traffic to the website. And given that life doesn’t come with a reverse button I thought that shutting the piece was a convenient out and that I should just wear it, as shown by our publication of many comments critical of the piece.

We have had a request from Bilal Shafayat through his lawyers for us to delete the piece from the website and we have now done that.

I’ve also written to him personally and use this post to say publicly that I wish that life did come with a reverse button and that I’d never published this stupid joke. We’re not going to invite comment on this post because I don’t want it to be a traffic-driving exercise, nor to open up a debate about whether the apology is warranted or not. I think it’s totally warranted and it’s offered sincerely and without reservation to Mr Shafayat and anyone else who found the piece distressing.

And here’s the “joke” (full column is available online here):

The question “Did the Poms cheat?” was perhaps put most succintly by mate Steve, watching the game online in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who inquired via text message in the final few overs this morning: “WHY IS THERE A MEMBER OF AL QAEDA HOLDING A F***ING GLOVE AND A FAT POM IN A TRACKSUIT OUT IN THE MIDDLE?” It’s a fair if offensively-crafted question, and one which is now on every Australian mind, none more so than Ricky Ponting.

Thanks, Steve!

The Sun (UK) falls for terrorism hoax

Craig Silverman — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:00:02 +0000

The Sun (U.K.) recently reported in a front page story that several famous Jews were being targeted by Muslim extremists. Then, on Tuesday, it published an article noting that it had fallen for a hoax:

A PHONEY terrorism “expert” has confessed to duping newspapers and a senior politician.
Glen Jenvey has admitted making up stories about Islamic fundamentalism, including a faked list of prominent Jewish “targets”, which included Lord Alan Sugar.
He revealed his scheming in an interview with BBC reporter Tom Mangold, aired on Sunday’s edition of Donal MacIntyre’s Radio Five Live show.
Jenvey told how he fabricated the list of Jewish targets by posing as a fundamentalist on an extremist website where he urged others to suggest names.
He then leaked the made-up list to a trusted news agency, used by The Sun, and online forum Ummah.com was wrongly accused of being used to prepare a backlash against UK Jews.
Jenvey – who had been described as “an extremely capable and knowledgeable analyst” by Tory MP Patrick Mercer – said: “I’m fully responsible for the story. The Sun was deceived …

But the paper hasn’t apologized or formally corrected its report. From the Guardian:

The Sun today admitted that its front page story claiming Lord Alan Sugar was a Jewish “target” of extremist Muslims was wrong.
But the paper did not apologise or offer a correction to readers about the 7 January story, which carried the headline “Terror Target Sugar”. The story quoted claims by “anti-terror expert” Glen Jenvey that online Muslim forum Ummah.com was being used by extremists to target leading British Jews in revenge for Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
Later that month MediaGuardian.co.uk reported claims that Jenvey was responsible for the posts on the website.
The Sun story named Sugar, singer Amy Winehouse, producer Mark Ronson and Labour peer Lord Levy as among those allegedly being targeted by Islamic extremists.
News International’s daily tabloid subsequently removed the story, which carried the bylines of John Coles and Mike Sullivan, from its website. The story came from the news agency South West News.
Jenvey has also appeared on BBC2’s Newsnight as a terror expert commenting on internet monitoring of extremist groups …

Apology

Craig Silverman — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:00:00 +0000

IN yesterday’s Daily Post we published an article headlined ‘Drink drive rap for road safety mum’.
David’s mum Edwina Wares The article was a report of a court case in which Edwina Wares, 51, of Melyd Avenue, Prestatyn (pictured above) had admitted driving with excess alcohol, almost a year since her son David Wares, 22, was killed in a high speed collision.
We would like to point out that the photograph accompanying the report and captioned with Edwina Wares’ name was published in error.
In fact, the photograph was of Stephanie Brown, Road Safety Officer for Denbighshire council (pictured right), who is not connected in any way with Mrs Wares’ drink drive prosecution.
Stephanie Brown, road safety officer We apologise unreservedly for the error, and for any distress caused to Ms Brown.

Two years later, we’re sorry about saying you ran a cult

Craig Silverman — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:25:09 +0000

An article on May 25, 2007, ‘The Cult Guru Who Stole My Son’ made claims that William Van Gordon was a ‘brainwashed zombie’ and Edo Shonin brainwashed him and that the Buddhist retreat which they ran was a cult. We accept this is untrue. We apologise to both men for the contrary impression given. Link

Thanks, @Lucie_M!