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!
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:
Our 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.
OUR 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.
OUR 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.
AN 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!
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 from a publicly listed company to purchase works of art for his private collection and that he had taken steps to prevent people in Ireland becoming aware of such alleged behaviour.
We wish to make it clear that every work of art which features in the aforementioned book is the personal property of Sir Anthony and Lady O Reilly.
We accept that our article contained a number of factual errors and we unreservedly apologise to Sir Anthony and his family for the innuendos in the article. We have paid a sum of damages and legal costs in recognition of same.
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 Mr Gest for any embarrassment caused. Link
In an article of 6 November 2007 about Tom Sykes, a freelance journalist, we mistakenly included a photograph of Tom Sykes a digital TV consultant and his family. We wish to make it clear that the latter is not a recovering alcoholic or drug addict, and apologise for the error. Link
Originally spotted by Adrian Monck.
We’ve been cataloging the apologies offered to Morien Jones by UK newspapers (read one of the apologies for some background), and now there are a few more to add to the pile. Actually, a lot more. We can’t recall another recent UK story that caused so many apologies. Read the previous apology from the Yorkshire Post, and this one from The Independent. And now for the rest:
