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A headline on Page 5 of Tuesday's Local section incorrectly described Anthony Genovese and his connection to a sex slavery case. Genovese is not implicated in the case. Further, the headline wrongly stated that officials said Genovese capitalized on the state's lax oversight to open bars and strip clubs in Palm Beach County.
Here's the story, which remains uncorrected online.
The Stockholm Journal article on Wednesday, about a movement in Sweden to abolish the monarchy, described incorrectly the circumstances surrounding the breakup of Prince Carl Philip and his girlfriend. It was amicable, not ''because of his alleged philandering.'' The article also misidentified the subject of a comment by Susanne Nylen, the monarchy reporter for Aftonbladet, Sweden's leading newspaper. When she said, ''We knew about his affairs for a long time,'' she was speaking about the former boyfriend of Princess Madeleine, a sister of Carl Philip — not about Carl Philip himself. Link
IN the Argus of March 24th, we reported on the fatal shooting of Seamus McMahon in an apartment in Bothar Chrionn, Saltown. We said that he had parked his 2010 registered car outside the apartment and that the new car was a clue to the fact that although officially listed as unemployed, he had other sources of income. We now understand that the new car actually belonged to his mother, Kathleen, who had bought and paid for it on her own behalf, and we are happy to clarify the matter. Link
A July 16 op-ed column on the Commentary page regarding banning plastic bags said the American Chemistry Council had “spent millions of dollars to create front groups such as the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition.” In fact, the coalition says, it was not created by the American Chemistry Council, nor is it funded or affiliated with it in any way. The Oregonian regrets publication of the error. Link
In an article published on this website on 27 December 2009 until 15 January 2010, entitled “Jet bomb ordered by 9/11 spiritual leader”, we incorrectly described the charity Interpal as “Hamas-supporting”.
As such the article would have wrongly been understood to mean that Interpal and its trustees provided support for Hamas notwithstanding that Hamas is deemed a terrorist organisation and thereby were aiding terrorism.
We accept that this is wrong and neither Interpal nor its Trustees support Hamas.
We wish to apologise to Interpal and its Trustees and are happy to set the record straight. Link
Thanks, Jamie!
In our story of 7 July on page 11 we incorrectly referred to former justice of the peace Henry Dedecker as a “drink-drive JP” in our headline. Mr Dedecker was convicted of speeding and not drink-driving. We apologise for the error. Link
In a July 5, 2010, story on Page 4 and online there were factual errors in a story involving David Aftergood. The story left the impression that Mr. Aftergood was jailed and fined for supplying a mail-in ballot to another person with the intention of influencing the election in 2004. In fact, the charges against Mr. Aftergood were withdrawn prior to a retrial. Mr. Aftergood was never jailed and the original conviction was overturned on appeal. 24 Hours apologizes for the error.
ON 31 March an article by Richard Fletcher wrongly reported that Richard Griffiths, Chairman of ORA Capital and former Chairman of Evolution Group, has an aversion to regulation because of the number of “run-ins” he has had with City regulators and was now regretting having returned to “regulated life”.
We accept and acknowledge that these allegations are untrue. Mr Griffiths has not had a number of “run-ins” with City regulators nor broken Stock Exchange rules. Neither has he returned to “regulated life”.
We apologise to Mr Griffiths for the embarrassment caused.
LAST SUNDAY we said prominent Auckland businessman Graeme Clegg, right, unsuccessfully offered a $1 million surety to have his son bailed while awaiting trial. He did not. We acknowledge the position Mr Clegg found himself in as a father estranged from his 36-year-old son and unreservedly apologise for any embarrassment caused to him and his family. The story was misleading and failed our own standards, and those our readers expect.
In an article published on 29 March 2009 (“Labour Peer in standards inquiry”) it was suggested that Brian Healy, a former New Scotland Yard detective, had acted improperly in his handling of a matter for a prominent overseas politician and in the conduct of investigations for other clients. We accept that there was no truth in these allegations. We apologise to Mr Healy for any suggestion to the contrary. Link
IN Brian Reade’s column on June 3, he suggested that oil firm Exxon is regularly responsible for spillages in West Africa on a worse scale than the current Gulf disaster. This is not the case, and we are happy to set the record straight.
IN articles we published in October and November 2008, we alleged that Barry George had become obsessed with the Sky TV presenter Kay Burley and the X Factor judge Cheryl Cole.
It was also alleged that Mr George had illegally attempted to obtain drugs from a hospital by fraudulently claiming to be someone else. We accept that those allegations were false. We take this opportunity to apologise to Mr George for any upset and hurt he felt.
And from the Daily Mirror:
In an article we published on our website in October 2008, we alleged that Barry George had been paying an excessive and worrying interest in the Sky TV presenter Kay Burley. We accept that those allegations were false. We take this opportunity to apologise to Mr George for any upset and hurt he felt. Link
In the December 7, 2008, edition of The Sunday Mail, an article titled “Don’t you own one of these, Senator?” and accompanying editorial titled “Disney plan plain goofy” were published on pages 5 and 68, respectively.
They reported on an overseas study trip taken by Queensland Senator Ian Macdonald in April and May 2008, which included a visit to Disneyland to speak with Disneyland executives about the idea of opening a theme park in North or Far North Queensland.
The article and headline could have been interpreted as suggesting Senator Macdonald spent $28,000 on a trip to Disneyland for information he could have got from a phone call. The article and editorial also could have been interpreted as suggesting Senator Macdonald had demanded the Australian Consulate in Los Angeles provide a driver to take him to Disneyland. We now recognise there was no foundation to these allegations and that Senator Macdonald’s visit to Disneyland was part of a wider overseas trip to the United Nations in New York. We regret the error and apologise to Senator Macdonald for any distress or embarrassment caused.
A report from the U.K.’s Press Gazette:
A woman and her partner accepted “substantial” damages from Take a Break magazine over a story which alleged that they conspired to get her former lover jailed by giving police false information.
Mrs Joyce Pinfield and partner David Valentine sued over a story which appeared in the magazine on April 5, 2007, under the headline “Yes, I framed you, darling”.
“The article detailed the relationship between Paul Eagles and his former lover Joyce Pinfield and her ongoing relationship with David Valentine,” Tim Atkinson, for Mrs Pinfield and Mr Valentine, told Mr Justice Eady at the High Court on April 21.
The magazine was told, and accepted, that a number of statements in the story were inaccurate.
“The defendant is happy to make clear that Mrs Pinfield and Mr Valentine did not conspire to put Mr Eagles in jail by providing false information to the police and to the fraud office and that Mr Valentine did not charges Mr Eagles over benefit fraud in bad faith,” Mr Atkinson said.
“The defendant also accepts that Mrs Pinfield did not take advantage of the situation to persuade Mr Eagles to sell his share of the business at rock bottom prices, that Mr Valentine and Mrs Pinfield did not trick Mr Eagles into coming into Mrs Pinfield’s house and that Mr Valentine did not attack Mr Eagles there (and Mrs Pinfield did not approve of any such attack.” …
Thanks, John!
Yesterday’s story “Midwife to face injured babies probe” wrongly stated, due to a production error after the report was submitted, that the health board said some of the babies may allegedly have been injured. The claim came from another source. We apologise for the error. Link
In a story contained in WENN’s 1st feed on 27 April, 2010, headlined “KATE NASH OPENS UP ABOUT BREAKDOWN, DRINK AND DRUGS”, we stated that Kate Nash had given an interview in which she discussed the effects of her “drink and drug” use. WENN wishes to make it clear that Nash did not discuss drug use during the interview, and was referring only to the effects of her drinking. Please correct this story on your website or in your database and accept our apologies for any inconvenience…… WENN Editor. Link
A correction issued by the Huffington Post that was spotted by FishBowl DC:
In an embarrassing moment of Freudian word-vomit, we said in Tuesday’s lede that Kal Penn had been ARRESTED when the actor-turned-politico-turned actor had actually been MUGGED (at least we got it right in the article’s body). Despite Kal’s close association with certain recreational drugs, we have no reason to believe that he is anything but an upstanding citizen. 1000 apologies.
Thanks, Daniel!
Paddy Johnson, a Brooklyn-based writer, runs the Art Fag City website. Johnson recently issued a correction/retraction for a post, and it’s more of a “I made a mistake but my larger point still stands” offering:
I made a mistake. Yesterday I wrote a post complaining that Marc Schiller had received payment for the marketing he did for Exit Through The Gift Shop, a documentary on the street artist Banksy, when in fact he had not. John Sloss, the man heading up the film’s distribution with Producers Distribution Agency, confirmed this to be the case this afternoon over email.
In all fairness to Schiller, I would have done better to have just taken his word for it Sunday night, rather than jump to the conclusion that his claim had to be false. Truth be told, it never occurred to me that anyone would so aggressively promote a movie over twitter and Wooster Collective without payment. I was wrong. In my opinion though, it’s disrespectful to bombard readers coming to Schiller’s blog for street art with non-stop Banksy action.
I said this to Schiller over the phone this morning, which frankly didn’t win me any points, especially within the larger context of an apology. I did however eventually manage to communicate my regret for publishing an inaccurate conflict of interest claim. As far as I can tell from our conversation, Schiller’s worst crime is being an uber annoying fan boy who’s over zealous promotion left a sour taste in the mouths of many.
Nice that Johnson thought to speak with Schiller directly, though it sounds like an awkward conversation.
Thanks, Joe!
In last Sunday’s article ‘Gore takes cash for water campaign from chemical firm’ we stated that Al Gore’s environmental organisation had taken money from a chemical company for the Life Earth Water events taking place last week. Neither Al Gore nor his philanthropic organization, the Alliance for Climate protection, are associated with, or sponsored, the Live Earths Water events which were the subject of our article. We apologise to Al Gore and his organisation for our error. Link
A REPORT in The Weekend Australian on Saturday (“Deripaska’s hard stare has vision”, Page 25) made reference to Russian businessman Oleg Derispaska and links to organised crime. The Australian accepts it has no evidence whatsoever to support the allegation, it withdraws any implication to that effect and unreservedly apologises to Mr Derispaska for any harm he may have suffered as a result of the publication.
China’s Chongqing Times issued a major front page apology after it falsely accused the China Writers’ Association of staying a suite at a five-star hotel and racking up big meal tabs during a conference. The resulting apology was above-the-fold, which almost never happens. (Another paper, the West China City Daily, also picked up the report.)
The blog Danwei has a detailed look at the apology, as well a full translation. According to the site, the paper’s apology noted that the error…
was not limited to factual inaccuracies, but stemmed from an entertainment-oriented approach to journalism that neglected to pay the CWA the attention it deserved. Furthermore, it promised to work hard in the future to carry out its duty to publicize the great accomplishments the CWA and its authors have made in telling stories about the masses. The reporter who wrote the story was fired. The editor who let it through was demoted. The deputy editor on duty was disciplined. And today’s paper reports that the agency leadership convened a meeting last night to discuss ways in which the spectre of fake news can be eradicated.
Almost everything about this apology is notable: Its length and placement, the consequences for the reporter and editor involved, and the paper’s statement that it would now dedicate itself to promoting the CWA. Here’s the relevant bit from the apology:
This serious mistake in reporting has taught us an important lesson. From now on, we will vigorously promote the great efforts of the Chinese Writers’ Association and its authors, whose excellent work reflects society, eulogizes our era, enriches the cultural life of the masses. We will vigorously promote writers who delve deeply into real life, into the grass-roots, into the masses, to create moving stories that boldly assuming responsibility toward the humanities and society. We will vigorously publicize the active contributions the Chinese Writers’ Association makes in championing outstanding ethnic culture, exhibiting the style of contemporary China, and promoting the prosperous development of the nation’s literature, and we will take practical steps to applaud and encourage the hard work of the Chinese Writers’ Association and its authors.
Thanks, Bonny Megan!
A headline appearing within a March 30 story about the Catholic church incorrectly attributed a statement about alleged sexual abuse to Pope Benedict XVI. The statement was made by a German priest writing in The Times of London. Link
WebNewser has some background:
Under the article, “Losing Their Religion? Catholicism in Turmoil,” the related content subsection linked to an article title reading, “Pope Describes Touching Boys: I Went Too Far.”
According to the Catholic League, this article said nothing about the Pope but discussed a homosexual German priest who had sexual relations with males in the 1980s.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue, often a guest on MSNBC cable, demanded an apology — and got one later that day …
Thanks, Daniel!
I’m still traveling, but I couldn’t delay getting this apology on the site:
The Tab would like to apologise to BBC Correspondent and former Newsround presenter Lizo Mzimba for making a considerable number of false and damaging allegations about Lizo’s professional and personal behaviour, in a series of articles published in October 2009.
The Tab now acknowledges that Lizo did not visit Cambridge to research a documentary aimed at exposing and embarrassing Cambridge students, and further acknowledges that he has never worked on a documentary of any kind about Cambridge or the University.
We fully accept that he was not ‘seen draping himself over a number of girls’; it was untrue to label him as a ‘sleaze’ and a ‘perve’; and we were wrong to accuse him of loitering around ladies’ toilets to support false allegations that his behaviour while in Cambridge was debauched.
The Tab also acknowledges that Lizo was not gaffer-taped to a wall in Emmanuel College; he was not forced to lock himself in a toilet following a confrontation with students; and he was not ‘bug-eyed and sweaty’ as a result of a night of heavy drinking.
The Tab apologised unreservedly to Lizo for the articles and the distress and embarrassment they have caused. Link
Thanks, Niall!
A story on January 13, “Suspect in $150m loan scam fronts court”, listed people said to have been charged as part of a fraud syndicate. In fact only seven of those listed in the article – Hiba Cornell, Ahmad Hamze, Adam Zraike (aka Adam Perez), Rachid Kabhara, Hammoude Badr, Mohamad Sowaid and Mohamad Diab – have been so charged. The Herald apologises to the others named, including Todd Blunt and Fatima Moussa, for the error. Mr Blunt is an investigator assisting the prosecution and is not a suspect.
Regret the Error Columns on Columbia Journalism Review online From My Posterous
In an article on February 3, we implied two thirds of Haitians drank goats’ blood while practising voodoo. We are happy to make clear this is not the case. 
