Regret the Error » independent uk

Independent repeats allegation without allowing source to respond

Craig Silverman — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:30:59 +0000

Our article, “The Acton Spring? How unrest in Syria spilled over into the respectable streets of West London” (4 November 2011) referred to a “classified 2008 cable from the then-US chargé d’affaires to Damascus released by Wikileaks this year”. The cable named Dr Fawaz Akhras as a suspected avenue used by the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “to stash funds abroad”.
Dr Akhras is a respected consultant cardiologist who has lived in London for over 35 years. He categorically denies that he has ever held or transferred any funds for or on behalf of President al-Assad. We accept that Dr Akhras should have been given the opportunity to make his position clear before our article was published. Link

A denial for the record

Craig Silverman — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:00:50 +0000

Our article,”Inside the ‘basket case’:the film that will shock football”(29 October 2011) was a feature on a fly-on -the wall documentary film,The Four Year Plan,which has just been released about the recent turbulent history of Queens Park Rangers FC. In it we mentioned an allegation made in the film by the former QPR Chairman, Gianni Paladini, to the effect that Jim Magilton, the former Manager, had head-butted a player. Mr Magilton has always categorically denied this allegation and we are happy to record his denial. Link

Apology

Craig Silverman — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:00:02 +0000

Our article “Chelsea hit by Essien blow on first day back” (9 July 2011) suggested that the Chelsea’s then Medical Director, Dr Bryan English, had been sacked by the club because his medical staff failed correctly to diagnose injuries to key players. We now accept that these allegations were untrue and apologise to Dr English for the distress and embarrassment caused to him. In fact, Dr English says, which we accept, that the new Chelsea manager, Andre Villas-Boas, simply wanted a new team of support staff around him; it had nothing to with Dr English’s competence.

Bad for business

Craig Silverman — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:30:06 +0000

In our article, ‘The scone of destiny’ (11 September 2011) we incorrectly stated that Tilly Mint Bakery in Truro had closed. It has not closed and continues in business as usual . We apologize for this error. Link

Johann Hari apologizes for plagiarism, takes leave from paper

Craig Silverman — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:30:39 +0000

So the Johann Hari saga has come to something of a conclusion. He apologized and will take a leave from the Independent from now until 2012. From his apology:

I did two wrong and stupid things. The first concerns some people I interviewed over the years. When I recorded and typed up any conversation, I found something odd: points that sounded perfectly clear when you heard them being spoken often don’t translate to the page. They can be quite confusing and unclear. When this happened, if the interviewee had made a similar point in their writing (or, much more rarely, when they were speaking to somebody else), I would use those words instead. At the time, I justified this to myself by saying I was giving the clearest possible representation of what the interviewee thought, in their most considered and clear words …
The other thing I did wrong was that several years ago I started to notice some things I didn’t like in the Wikipedia entry about me, so I took them out. To do that, I created a user-name that wasn’t my own. Using that user-name, I continued to edit my own Wikipedia entry and some other people’s too. I took out nasty passages about people I admire – like Polly Toynbee, George Monbiot, Deborah Orr and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. I factually corrected some other entries about other people. But in a few instances, I edited the entries of people I had clashed with in ways that were juvenile or malicious: I called one of them anti-Semitic and homophobic, and the other a drunk. I am mortified to have done this, because it breaches the most basic ethical rule: don’t do to others what you don’t want them to do to you. I apologise to the latter group unreservedly and totally.

From a Guardian report:

…Hari is also handing back the George Orwell prize he won as “an act of contrition for the errors I made elsewhere, in my interviews” and will undertake “a programme of journalism training” during his leave of absence.
It is understood that provided no more damaging revelations emerge about the journalist during his unpaid leave, the Independent editor, Chris Blackhurst, will allow him to return to the paper.
In a statement, the paper said that Hari “admits the central accusations made against him, that of embellishment of quotations/plagiarism, and that it was he who used the pseudonym David Rose to attack his critics”.

Not arguing for sexsomnia

Craig Silverman — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:00:37 +0000

In our article “Man cleared of ‘sex in his sleep’ rape charge” (5 July 2011) we stated that Stephen Lee Davies had been acquitted of rape after arguing that he had been suffering from sexsomnia. We now understand that Mr Davies’s defence was that he did not commit the alleged offence. Although the court heard evidence that Mr Davies may have been suffering from sexsomnia there was no finding that he had been at the time of the alleged offence. Link

Apology

Craig Silverman — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 13:30:15 +0000

The picture caption accompanying ‘ How first a marriage then a political career were ended’ (22 January 2011) incorrectly identified the plain-clothes policeman appearing in the picture between Mr Johnson and his wife, as DC Paul Rice, who it was alleged had an affair with Mrs Johnson. In fact the picture was of Sergeant Paul Champion who had no involvement whatsoever, and we apologise to him for our error and the distress this caused to him and his family. Link

The play’s the thing

Craig Silverman — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:00:17 +0000

In an item in “The Week in Arts” published on 25 June 2011 we incorrectly stated that the critic Ruth Leon had written a review for her husband Sheridan Morley of a play which she had not seen. We are told, and accept, that while she did indeed file the review mentioned for her husband, he had written it and had seen the play. Ruth Leon assures us that she has never reviewed any production she has not seen. We are happy to set the record straight. Link

Sorry for calling you corpse smugglers, cont.

Craig Silverman — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:00:47 +0000

Two articles published on the 7th and 9th April 2010 concerned the discovery at Liverpool John Lennon Airport that Willi Jarant, aged 91, had died prior to check-in for a flight to Germany and the subsequent arrest of his widow, Gitta Jarant and step-daughter, Anke Anusic. The first article was headed “Women attempt to get on plane with a corpse”, the second was headed “Airport wheelchair man died 12 hours earlier”. We are told that Mr Jarant’s home carer is satisfied that he was alive at the time he boarded a taxi to the airport. It has been pointed out that a Home Office Pathologist, disagreeing with the doctor who pronounced him dead at the airport, concluded that this was consistent with Mr Jarant’s probable time of death and that Mrs Jarant and Mrs Anusic were informed in September 2010 that no charges would be brought. We therefore accept that any suggestion that Mrs Jarant and Mrs Anusic may have deliberately attempted to smuggle their dead relative onto a flight was untrue and apologise for the distress caused to them by the articles. Link

See a similar apology from the Guardian here.

Apology

Craig Silverman — Mon, 23 May 2011 12:00:55 +0000

An article on 18 April referred to the recent death of Leslie Phillips’ wife, Angela Scoular, stating that she had died alone. We have now been informed that this is incorrect, and we apologise to Mr Phillips and his family for any distress caused. Link

Saudi minister denies issuing order to use live rounds on demonstrators

Craig Silverman — Thu, 05 May 2011 12:00:40 +0000

In an essay about popular unrest in the Arab world headed:A long time coming (15 April) we referred to an order said to have been given by HRH Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud on 11 March this year. We said that Prince Nayef, the Saudi minister of the interior, ordered security forces to show no mercy and to use live rounds on unarmed demonstrators. Prince Nayef has responded that the order is a forgery, was not issued by him and that he would never issue such an order.” Link

Resistance is futile

Craig Silverman — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:00:14 +0000

An article on 13 March stated that Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz were wrestled to the ground and handcuffed when they were arrested as part of the SFO investigation into the collapse of Kaupthing. We did not intend to suggest that the Tchenguiz brothers resisted arrest and now accept that they were not wrestled to the ground or handcuffed. Link

Apology

Craig Silverman — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 12:00:16 +0000

On 10 February, we reported from a news agency source that Claudia Adusei, 20, from London, died after buttock enhancement treatment in Philadelphia. The agency had been misinformed that the girl was Claudia Adusei, when it was, in fact, Claudia Aderotimi who died. We apologise for any distress caused to the families concerned. Link

Not a terrorist

Craig Silverman — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:00:48 +0000

On 31 July 2010 an article headlined "A tour of the jail within a jail that houses Britain's most dangerous convicts" about the High Security Unit at Belmarsh Prison wrongly suggested that Garikoitz Ibarlucea Murua was amongst those held in that unit. In fact Mr Ibarlucea was only ever remanded at Wandsworth prison as a lower security prisoner under a European Arrest Warrant; he was released on 12 August last year after a court held the warrant to be invalid, a decision upheld on appeal. The article referred to him as an alleged member of the Basque terrorist organisation, ETA, but Mr Ibarlucea has told us, which we accept, that he is not and never has been a member of ETA or involved in violence (as a form of political protest or otherwise). We apologise for our error. Link

Apology

Craig Silverman — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:00:30 +0000

In our article, ‘Reuters rocked by scandal over staff’s undisclosed shareholdings’ (19 October 2010) we alleged that Margaret Doyle, a financial journalist, had breached Reuters’ internal rules on share ownership and dealing. This was not true. She had observed the rules at all times, a fact confirmed by Reuters. We apologise to Ms Doyle for the embarrassment caused. Link