Tag Archives: daily express

Apology

November 18, 2009 – 8:00 am

expressOur August 5th article “Strictly out of Step about changes to the television programme “Strictly Come Dancing” said that Sharon Osbourne had decided against appearing on it because the money on it was “ridiculous”. We are happy to accept that this is incorrect. Sharon Osbourne decided against appearing on it because of her work commitments and busy schedule in America. We apologise for any embarrassment caused. Link

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments

Apology

November 11, 2009 – 8:00 am

expressOur article of October 17 headed “Priest brands resort ‘most godless in UK’ incorrectly attributed the quote to Rev. Archie Coates vicar of St. Peter’s, Brighton. In fact he said that it had been dubbed that by others. The report that he had been reprimanded for the comment was therefore unfounded. We apologise to Rev. Coates for any embarrassment our article may have caused him.

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Apology

August 31, 2009 – 8:00 am

expressIN our article "Tennis legend Martina and the Russian beauty" on August 25, we reported that Martina Navratilova and Julia Lemigova were believed to be engaged after being photographed on holiday in St Tropez, each wearing rings on their left hands. There is no truth in this. The pair are not engaged and have not exchanged rings. We apologise to Ms Navratilova and Ms Lemigova for our error and any embarrassment we may have caused. Link

 

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments

Apology

March 25, 2009 – 8:00 am

expressTHE Scottish Sunday Express has enjoyed a long love affair with the people of our nation.
It is 81 years since the first edition of this great newspaper rolled off the presses in Glasgow.
Over that time, we have established a reputation for crusading journalism built on the twin cornerstones of honesty and integrity.
Scottish Sunday Express readers expect us to shine a light on the wrongs in our society, to expose the crooks, highlight the hypocrites and to give everyone the odd chuckle with the extraordinary stories that ordinary Scots so often have to tell.
We think we are pretty good at all that, and everyone involved in producing this newspaper takes pride in what we publish.
It is also hugely important to us that the Scottish Sunday Express reflects the feelings of the people of Scotland.
On March 8 we got that all wrong.
Our front-page story about the teenage survivors of the Dunblane massacre and their use of social networking websites has caused terrible offence, not only in that town, but across Scotland and around the world.
It is our belief that nobody was misquoted, but the story was undeniably inappropriate. It has upset the young people we named and caused great distress to their parents.
Where possible, we have spoken to the families involved and given them a heartfelt apology. Today we apologise to you, our loyal readers.

Thanks, Dave!

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Major Errors, Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments

False tale of Facebook party leads to flowering of UK press apologies

March 4, 2009 – 11:06 am

One U.K. television station and U.K. eight newspapers have published/aired apologies and paid damages after they falsely reported that a child’s birthday party had spun wildly out of control due to its promotion on Facebook. In reality, “only very minor damage was caused”during the party, it was never promoted on Facebook,  no alcohol was served, and the birthday girl’s mother was there the entire time. From the Guardian:

David Price, of London law firm David Price Solicitors and Advocates, told Judge Charles Gray at the high court in London today that Amanda Hudson had been “extremely shocked and distressed” by the false picture that had been painted of her daughter Jodie’s birthday party in Marbella, Spain…
“The Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mirror, the Sun, the London Paper and the Daily Express have published prominent apologies in their respective newspapers and online,” Price told the high court.
“Times Online, Sky News and Metro Online have published apologies on their respective websites. In addition, Mrs Hudson will be receiving a substantial sum in damages and her legal costs will be paid,” he said.
The court heard that the coverage claimed her house had been either “trashed” or “destroyed” by drunk and out-of-control gatecrashers.
“The true position is that the house was not trashed, wrecked or destroyed. Only very minor damage was caused to one door and no property was stolen,” Price said.
“Similarly, no furniture was trashed or thrown into the swimming pool. Mrs Hudson did not permit alcohol to be served and was in attendance throughout the party as were a number of private security guards that she had employed as a reasonable precaution…

A sample of the apologies, which remind me of 2006’s Correction of the Year:

sun_uk3Our report (”400 Trash Eur4M Villa”, 30 March 2008) said that Amanda Hudson’s home on the Costa del Sol had been trashed by teenagers attending her daughter’s 16th birthday party, who had also stolen property.
We now accept that these allegations were untrue. We apologise to Amanda for the embarrassment caused.

mirroruk2OUR report (”Off their Facebook”, May 30, 2008) said that Amanda Hudson’s house on the Costa del Sol had been wrecked by drunken and out of control teenagers attending her daughter’s 16th birthday party, who had also stolen property. We also referred to an internet posting in which it was claimed that Amanda had punched Jodie because of what happened. We now accept that these allegations were untrue and we apologise to Amanda for the distress and embarrassment caused.

expressOUR report (”GBP 4M villa trashed by party-crashers”, 30 May 2008) said that Amanda Hudson’s home on the Costa del Sol had been trashed by teenagers attending her daughter’s 16th birthday party, who had also stolen property. We now accept that these allegations were untrue. We apologise to Amanda for the embarrassment caused.

dailymailAN article on 30 May 2008 ‘Trail of destruction at £4.4m villa after 400 crash Facebook party’ suggested that Amanda Hudson failed to exercise parental control over her daughter’s 16th birthday party and that her property was badly damaged by drunken teenagers. We accept that these allegations were untrue and we apologise to Amanda Hudson for any embarrassment caused.

Thanks, Dave!

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Major Errors, Newspapers, Television | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments

Express papers offer up more apologies to the McCanns

October 17, 2008 – 8:00 am

I previously wrote about the U.K.’s Express Newspapers making prominent apologies to Kate and Gerry McCann. Now the papers have stepped up with another round of apologies, including this one from the Express:

IN articles published between July and December last year we suggested that the holiday companions of Kate and Gerry McCann might have covered up the true facts concerning Madeleine McCann’s disappearance and/or misled the authorities investigating her disappearance.

We also reported speculation that one member of the group, Dr Russell O’Brien, was suspected of involvement with Madeleine’s abduction. We now accept that these suggestions should never have been made and were completely untrue. We apologise to Jane Tanner, Russell O’Brien, Fiona Payne, David Payne, Matthew Oldfield, Rachael Oldfield and Diane Webster to whom we have agreed to pay substantial damages which they will be donating to the Find Madeleine Fund.

The Guardian has some background:

The Daily Express and Daily Star have today printed apologies to the so-called “tapas seven” friends of Kate and Gerry McCann as part of a legal settlement.
Daily Express – ‘tapas seven’ apology Daily Express: ran apology on page 5
Today’s apologies, on page 5 of the Daily Express and page 3 of the Daily Star, come ahead of a statement about the “tapas seven” settlement to be read out in the high court in London at 10.30am.
Richard Desmond’s Express Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Express and Daily Star, will also pay the group £375,000 in damages, according to a report yesterday by the Sky News crime correspondent, Martin Brunt. The money will be donated to the Find Madeleine Fund.
Under the headline “Tapas seven – an apology”, both papers apologised for publishing “completely untrue” suggestions that the friends may have lied about the case …
More details of the holiday companions’ settlement with Express Newspapers are expected to be outlined in the high court statement before Mr Justice Eady.
The legal action, undertaken for the “tapas seven” by law firm Carter-Ruck, follows big payouts by British papers to the McCanns and to Robert Murat.
In July, Murat accepted more than £600,000 in damages from 11 British newspapers after he was libelled in more than 100 articles.
The Express Newspapers-owned Daily Express, Sunday Express and Daily Star; Associated Newspapers’ Daily Mail, Evening Standard, and Metro; Mirror Group Newspapers’ Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror and Scottish Daily Record; and News Group’s Sun and News of the World acknowledged that the stories they had run about Murat over nine months were entirely untrue and should never have been printed.
In March, Kate and Gerry McCann accepted £550,000 from Express Newspapers after the Daily and Sunday Express, the Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday ran numerous defamatory articles after their daughter Madeleine disappeared from the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal on May 3, 2007.

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Major Errors, Newspapers | Also tagged , , | Comments

Apology

September 19, 2008 – 8:00 am

A PHOTOGRAPH caption in earlier editions of yesterday’s Scottish Daily Express (Tragedy as girl, 16, is found dead in her bed after party) incorrectly stated that the picture was of Jennifer Paul, 16, from Edinburgh.

We apologise for any distress caused by the use of the wrong picture, which was provided by a normally reputable news agency.

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Comments

Daily Express, Daily Star issue front page apologies, pay damages

March 19, 2008 – 9:00 pm

Today was a historic day for newspaper apologies. A sad, shameful, embarrassingly historic day.

Two UK papers controlled by the same owner (Express Newspapers) issued front page apologies to a British couple, Kate and Gerry McCann. The apologies will be repeated in the related Sunday editions of both papers, the Sunday Express and Daily Star Sunday*.

In more than 100 articles, the papers had repeatedly and forcefully suggested that the couple were responsible for the disappearance of their young daughter. Roy Greenslade of the Guardian summed up the papers’ work:

This was no journalistic accident, but a sustained campaign of vitriol against a grief-stricken family. The stories were not merely speculative, but laced with innuendo which continually made accusations against the McCanns on the basis of anonymous sources and without any hard evidence.

Wild claims, often made by unattributed sources to Portuguese newspapers, were then spun even more negatively by the Express and Star titles. Of course, they were not the only papers to carry prejudicial material, but they were by far the worst.

Realizing that it could not win in court, and could not defend their work, Express Newspapers negotiated a settlement with the couple that includes the apologies and a payment of roughly $1 million. This is the apology published by the Daily Express (”The World’s Greatest Newspaper”):

The Daily Express has taken the unprecedented step of making a front-page apology to Kate and Gerry McCann.
We did so because we accept that a number of articles in the newspaper have suggested that the couple caused the death of their missing daughter Madeleine and then covered it up.
We acknowledge that there is no evidence whatsoever to support this theory and that Kate and Gerry are completely innocent of any involvement in their daughter’s disappearance.
We trust that the suspicion that has clouded their lives for many months will soon be lifted.
As an expression of its regret, the Daily Express has now paid a very substantial sum into the Madeleine Fund and we promise to do all in our power to help efforts to find her.
Kate and Gerry, we are truly sorry to have added to your distress.
We assure you that we hope Madeleine will one day be found alive and well and will be restored to her loving family.

It was a questionable decision to begin the apology with a statement that seems to suggest that the paper is doing something noble, and purely of its own choosing. A front page apology was a necessity, and a long overdue one at that. So many of the offending stories had been on the front page that to offer anything less in terms of placement would have been unacceptable.

The Express, and the Daily Star (apology here), took this step because they finally came to see they had been wholly irresponsible and wanted to avoid a massively expensive lawsuit. I don’t mean to suggest there isn’t any genuine remorse at the papers, but it’s not the sole motivation for the apologies. It’s likely not even the dominant one.

Since this website launched in fall of 2004, the most notable apologies have consistently appeared in the UK press. But two papers with front page apologies on the same day, and two repeats to come? Yes, you could call that unprecedented. But the actions that led to this event bring other words to mind.

*Correction April 9: The name of the Daily Star Sunday was initially and incorrectly written as the “Daily Sunday Star.” It has been corrected. Thanks Smylers!

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Major Errors, Newspapers, Regret Articles | Also tagged , , | Comments

The Morien Jones apologies, cont. again

April 27, 2007 – 8:00 am

The apologies keep rolling in for Morien Jones. This story goes back to last summer. Some newspapers continue to get the story wrong, while others are just getting around to correcting their reports from last year. Below are the latest installments. Read the previous ones by starting here.

FURTHER to our article on May 26 2006 about Lynett Burgess’s acquittal for indecent exposure, we have been asked to make clear her neighbour Morien Jones did not film Ms Burgess in her garden. The video shown in court was shot by Mr Jones’s builder as she walked naked in front of Mr Jones’s house.
We apologise to Mr Jones for any embarrassment caused. Link

On May 25 2006 we reported that Lynett Burgess has been cleared of indecent exposure for sunbathing nude in her garden. We stated that her neighbour, Mr Jones, had taken a video of her in her garden which was given to the police. We have been asked to make clear that Mr Jones’s builder in fact took the pictures when Ms Burgess was on Mr Jones’s drive.

In an article published on 18th April (‘Naked’ nurse’s living hell) we incorrectly reported that a builder had filmed Lyneth Burgess sunbathing naked in her own garden and that her neighbours, Morien and Nia Jones, reported her to police for this. In fact the builder’s film, taken on police advice, showed Ms Burgess walking naked on the driveway at the front of the Jones’ property, not on her own property. We apologise for any misleading impression given of Mr Jones and his family.Our agency-based report on the unsuccessful prosecution of Lynette Burgess for indecent exposure (25 May) suggested that she had been filmed sunbathing naked in her garden by a neighbour, Morien Jones. In fact the film, taken on police advice by Mr Jones’s builder in the context of possible court proceedings, showed Ms Burgess walking naked on the driveway at the front of Mr Jones’s property.
We apologise to Mr Jones for any embarrassment caused by the misunderstanding. Link

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