November 16, 2009 – 8:00 am
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
November 16, 2009 – 8:00 am
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.
November 11, 2009 – 8:00 am
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
November 9, 2009 – 8:00 am
A caption on page 5 of yesterday’s Sport section repeated the false allegation that Chelsea players ran up a £120,000 bar bill during a birthday party for the striker Salomon Kalou in August. The bill for the party was closer to £6,000 and was paid by friends of Mr Kalou. We apologise for this error. Link
November 3, 2009 – 8:00 am
Zentai case: Allegations that Charles Zentai had stood over the bleeding, dying body of an 18-year-old Jewish man he bashed to death in Hungary in 1944 and described the noise of blood flooding his lungs as “music” (Killer in our midst? Agenda, page 23, October 31) are disputed by his family. Mr Zentai’s son Ernie Steiner claims several witnesses attributed the comment to another man, Captain Bela Mader, in statements presented at the officer’s trial in 1946 and this could be verified in court records.
November 2, 2009 – 8:00 am
AN ARTICLE in the Sunday Mail, on April 27, 2007, headlined “Co-op uses human ashes to grit path”, said staff at a Dunfermline funeral home had used ashes to grit a disabled ramp.
Despite printing the article in good faith , we now acknowledge and fully accept that this was not the case.
We apologise to the Co-operative Funeral Care and Bob Aitchison, the manager in Dunfermline, and unreservedly withdraw the allegations. Link
October 30, 2009 – 8:00 am
In the item “Jasper started it, honest” (18 October) about the Daily Telegraph’s recent feature on Tunbridge Wells it was wrongly suggested that Jasper Gerard had asked two boys of seventeen to pose for a fake picture showing them drunk, and that the paper had published it without their permission.
We are happy to make it clear that Mr Gerard did not commission the photograph nor was he present when it was taken and we apologise to Mr Gerard. The Telegraph also tells us the professional photographer who did take the picture insists that it was both authorised and genuine. Link
October 29, 2009 – 8:00 am
IN last week’s Argus, we published a story about a pipe bomb attack on a house at Gort Nua in Castlebellingham. We quoted the Garda Commissioner saying that the basis for such attacks lay in extortion and the drugs trade and we have been contacted by the occupants of the house who wish to point out that they are in no way involved in extortion and the drugs trade. Link
October 26, 2009 – 8:00 am
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
October 19, 2009 – 8:00 am
ON October 7, 2007 we reported that Ms McGuinness had charged the Find Madeleine Fund pounds 20,000 in excess of her agreed fee, which had come as a surprise to the Fund’s managers, and that following a discussion with Gerry McCann, she was forced to part company with the Fund.
We accept that Ms McGuinness did not overcharge the Fund, that she left as planned in September to meet pre-arranged commitments, and she was not forced to resign at all.
We regret any suggestion to the contrary and apologise to her for any distress and embarrassment caused. Link
October 13, 2009 – 8:00 am
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.
October 13, 2009 – 8:00 am
We would like to point out that Furn Scoles, who died in 2005 from a fractured skull, did not take heroin, as we stated in our story on Paul Ellis, who was convicted of his manslaughter four years ago (The Herald, October 8).
The Herald offers its sincere apologies to the Scoles family for this error and for any distress it has caused.
October 9, 2009 – 8:00 am
The article erroneously reported that former LAUSD Police Chief Wesley Mitchell was pressured to resign after thousands of downloaded porn images were found on his school district-issued computers. In fact, Mitchell retired in January 2002, and the allegations were made the following month. The porn downloads were traced to his son, a high school teacher. L.A. Weekly regrets the error. Link
September 30, 2009 – 8:00 am
In an article last week (”It’s a disgrace that the BBC is uniquely unaccountable”) it was alleged that some BBC executives negotiated deals with production companies owned by their spouses. We are happy to accept that no executives have been involved in such negotiations.
September 23, 2009 – 8:00 am
A Howard Levitt column in the Financial Post on Wednesday regarding Kelly McDougald, the former chief executive of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., said the Ontario government should be “suing her for fraud for her own expense account abuse.” However, no evidence has arisen of abuse in Ms. McDougald’s expense account and the Post withdraws the statement. Link
September 22, 2009 – 8:00 am
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.
September 16, 2009 – 9:25 am
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!
August 26, 2009 – 8:00 am
On Sunday, August, 2, in our article Robin Hood And His Merry Hell In The Pub, we said that Russell Crowe had been banned from, amongst others, the Brickmakers pub in Windlesham, Surrey whilst staying in the area filming a new Robin Hood epic. We have been informed that Mr Crowe has never been to the Brickmakers pub and therefore the incident never took place. We also acknowledge that Mr Crowe has not been banned, ejected or asked to leave any pub in Windlesham, Surrey or anywhere else in the UK during the shooting of Robin Hood. We apologize to Mr Crowe for the embarrassment and stress caused directly by our error. Link
Via Gossip Cop.
August 24, 2009 – 8:00 am
In our article, “Annie get your lawyer: Leibovitz sued over $24m loan” (1 August 2009) we quoted an anonymous source who said that Art Capital Group were ‘pretty scary guys, they are predatory lenders’. The article also included a statement from Annie Leibovitz’s publicist that the lawsuit brought by Art Capital Group is part of its continued harassment and attention-getting efforts. We accept that the allegations are false and apologise to Art Capital Group.’ Link
August 20, 2009 – 8:00 am
SURREY Police have not blamed gipsies for an attack on their force helicopter, no staff in their operations rooms were threatened by gipsies and no gipsy site was being targeted for a raid as we reported on May 14. We apologise for the mistakes and are happy to set the record straight. Link
Thanks, Telsa!
August 12, 2009 – 8:00 am
A sub-headline on page one of last Tuesday’s Herald stated that Attorney General Martha Coakley broomed a conflict-of-interest investigation involving Suffolk University before accepting an honorary law degree from the school. The accompanying story reported that Coakley’s office had obtained concessions from Suffolk while concluding there were no illegalities committed in the case. The Herald regrets any confusion caused by the use of the term "broom."
August 10, 2009 – 8:00 am
From February 8, 2007, the Herald published a number of articles in print and online, including a news blog, concerning Professor Di Yerbury who had served as Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University for more than 19 years to February 2006. Professor Yerbury has alleged that the articles depicted her as dishonestly commingling her private art collection with the University’s own art collection and failing honestly to account for her use of the University’s credit card. The Herald at no time intended to convey any such allegations against Professor Yerbury. If readers understood the articles as in any way reflecting upon her honesty and probity, the Herald withdraws those allegations and apologises for the hurt to Professor Yerbury and any damage to her reputation. Link
Thanks, Steve!
August 10, 2009 – 8:00 am
In the June 29 " Books " column, Johann Hari originally included two phrases that could have given the incorrect impression that Richard Bernstein has attended, or approves of, brothels where women are coerced. This was not Hari’s intention or Slate’s. We have amended these sentences to clarify that Bernstein does not approve of forced prostitution. Link
Thanks, Jack!
New York Magazine has some interesting background on this here.
August 4, 2009 – 10:03 pm
This was on the front page today’s St. Petersburg Times:
Bill O’Reilly has not accused President Barack Obama of racism. An article in Sunday’s Perspective section about the National Association of Black Journalists incorrectly included the Fox newscaster in a list of commentators who have publicly accused the president of racism.
Click on this image to see it on the page (far left column, near the bottom):

Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer has some interesting background in his post:
TV critic Eric Deggans incorrectly lumped O’Reilly into a column about news personalities who have accused Pres. Obama of racism (his colleague, Glenn Beck, was correctly on that list), but O’Reilly has never said anything like that. The FNC host addressed the story on his program last night as well.
“The problem with Mr. Deggans is acute,” said O’Reilly last night. “All American newspapers have an obligation to hire honest people, not crazed ideologues. Now, I don’t want anyone to lose their jobs, but this situation – beyond the pale.”
For his part, Deggans took to his blog to apologize. “One serving of humble pie, coming right up,” he started.
Deggans also made note of a jinx that apparently came true. When he criticized Alessandra Stanley over her errors, he wrote: “It’s a sure route to jinxland, pointing out the errors of other journalists.”
Read his post to watch the video.
In last week’s Feral Beast, in the context of an item about a British presenter on Iran’s Press TV, Yvonne Ridley, we referred to a remark by her which implied that Dominic Lawson had been an MI6 agent. Mr Lawson, now a columnist on our sister paper, the Independent, has pointed out that this false allegation, originally made in 1999 by someone else, was denied not only by him but also by the then Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook. Apologies to Dominic. Link