Australia’s national public broadcaster, the ABC, has apologized for a transcription error that made it sound as if a 16 year-old seeking asylum was apologizing for "lies" that caused his family to be deported. In fact, he was blaming his family’s "lawyers." Scroll down a bit or click here to read a similar example from a US newspaper. A story from The Age explains:
THE ABC has been forced to apologise for misquoting the teenage
sons of Australia’s highest-profile asylum seekers, the Bakhtiyari
family.
The national broadcaster issued a transcript of its AM
radio program on Wednesday quoting 16-year-old Alamdar Bakhtiyari
apologising for the "lies" that led to his family’s
deportation.
The national media picked up on the comments, which were made
during an ABC interview with Alamdar and his brother Montazar, 14,
in Pakistan.
But the ABC last night issued a statement saying it had
misquoted Alamdar. It said Alamdar had blamed lawyers, and not his
family’s lies, for their deportation to Pakistan on December
30.
"I don’t blame the Australian Government for all this," he said
in relation to the Bakhtiyaris’ deportation. "I myself, now I can
understand what’s happening, it was not the Australian Government
who caused us to be deported. It was all caused by our
lawyers."
However, the original ABC transcript said: "It was all caused by
our lies."
"Due to a mistake in transcription, the word ‘lawyers’ was
misheard and written as ‘lies’," the ABC said in its statement.
"The website has now been amended to correct the error, for which
the ABC apologises."
…
Here’s the full ABC statement:
On ABC radio’s "AM" current affairs program yesterday (October 5th,
2005) a story quoted Alamdar Bakhtiari, who (along with the rest of his
family) was deported to Pakistan by the Australian Government in
December last year.
In that story, Alamdar Bakhtiari said "I
don’t blame the Australian Government for all this. I myself, now I can
understand what’s happening, it was not the Australian Government who
caused us to be deported. It was all caused by our lawyers."
The transcript of the story was later posted on the ABC’s website, and it contained an error.
Due to a mistake in transcription, the word "lawyers" was misheard and written as "lies".
The website has now been amended to correct the error, for which the ABC apologises.
