Scottish Mail apologises over asylum claims

The Scottish Daily Mail has published the following correction and apology, after a complaint from the Scottish Refugee Council:

In an article on January 25, 2013, headlined: "Crisis as Asylum Seekers target Scotland" we stated that asylum seekers were ‘targeting' Scotland. We now accept that asylum seekers are dispersed by the UK Border Agency on a ‘no choice' basis and would not be able to choose to live in Scotland. With the current rate of asylum applicants to the UK well within the average rate of the past ten years, we also accept that it is misleading to categorise this as a ‘crisis'. We are happy to clarify the position and apologise for the error.

According to the PCC:

The newspaper also agreed to: publish an article regarding the work of the Scottish Refugee Council; hold a meeting with the organisation; and inform editorial staff of the issues and concerns raised at the meeting.

The Sun's prison/hospital confusion

An apology published by The Sun:

In an article ‘Real life Mr Bump has had 34 ops’ (11 January) a picture caption mistakenly said that Mr Terry Butler had been ‘in prison’ for 15 months instead of ‘in hospital’.

We apologise to Mr Butler and regret any distress caused.

Mail apologises to Sir Roger Moore for repeating false claims first published in The People

On 20 January, The People published the following apology to Sir Roger Moore:

On 16 September we published an article headed “I’ve had Moore women than James Bond” which claimed that Sir Roger Moore had recently spoken exclusively to The People and made comments to our journalist about his private life.

We now accept that Sir Roger did not give an interview to our reporter and did not make the comments that were reported in the headline.

We apologise for any distress and embarrassment our article has caused to Sir Roger Moore and we have agreed to pay him damages and legal costs.

Two months later and the Mail, which appears to have simply copied-and-pasted the claims, has also apologised:

An article on September 17 (‘I’ve had more lovers than 007’) included comments attributed to Sir Roger Moore by a Sunday newspaper about his private life.

That newspaper has now accepted its report did not accurately reflect a conversation with Sir Roger Moore and he did not make the comments it reported.

We apologise for any distress and embarrassment caused.

Mail corrects claim on company collapse

Daily Mail, 2 March 2013:

all that remains of Cressida's patrimony is a pile of bricks alongside the A444 at Castle Gresley.

It once used to be the Bonas Brothers factory, but the business went bust in the Eighties. Its last hurrah was a line of goods branded Magic Touch, which included elastic for ladies' tights.

This was a desperate attempt to save the business, but memories are long in this corner of Derbyshire, and some blame Cressida's father, Jeffrey, for the collapse of the company with a loss of 100 jobs.

'Jeffrey let the business down,' says a former employee. 'All there is left is a pile of rubble.'

Daily Mail, 20 March 2013:

An article on March 2 repeated a claim that Mr Jeffrey Bonas had been partly responsible for the failure of part of the family business.

We are happy to clarify that Mr Bonas left the business concerned in 1972 and it was run under different ownership from 1980 for a further 25 years.

The Sun vs Gordon Brown (cont.)

This apology to Gordon Brown appeared in today's Sun:

In Trevor Kavanagh’s column of 12 November, it was stated that Gordon Brown accused The Sun of blagging his son’s medical records. In fact, Mr Brown has never made such an accusation, in Parliament or otherwise. We were wrong to use this erroneous allegation as a basis to make comments about his character and integrity and to suggest that Mr Brown was ‘not telling the full story’. We withdraw these criticisms and apologise to Mr Brown.

This is the fifth time that the paper has corrected claims about Brown in less than five months.

Mail on Sunday apologises for smoking claim

Mail on Sunday, 27 January 2013:

E-cigarettes ‘can cause more harm than smoking’, experts say

They are billed as a healthier alternative to smoking, yet experts now warn that electronic cigarettes may be more damaging than the habit they replace.

Mail on Sunday, 3 March 2013:

A Health article on January 27 said some experts believe electronic cigarettes can be more harmful than real ones. In fact we are not aware of any experts who hold this view compared to the risks of cancer, heart disease and lung damage from real cigarettes. We apologise for any contrary suggestion.

(More info on the complaint to the PCC that led to this apology can be found here.)

Mail corrects Littlejohn column

The 'Clarifications and corrections' column in today's Mail includes this:

A recent column said that EU regulations prevent the Women’s Institute from selling jam in re-used jars. In fact the rules apply only to commercial food businesses.

The 'recent column' was written by Richard Littlejohn and was mentioned on this blog on Tuesday.

This correction was published (at time of writing) ten hours ago on the Mail's website. But they haven't bothered to edit the original column - the incorrect claim remains there, and this correction hasn't been added to article. It doesn't appear anywhere on today's Littlejohn column either, so his regular readers may not even realise this has been corrected.

Moreover, the original news article, which made the same false claims back in October, remains live on their website and has never been removed or edited or corrected.

In the circumstances, it might make sense if they acted in some way over the original and then apologised for giving their readers the same, untrue information twice.

Mail's apology to Duke of York

The Mail has published the following apology to the Duke of York:

Articles of 7 and 14 May 2012 said that the Duke of York had demanded a private plane, travelled in a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce and snubbed free accommodation for his official Diamond Jubilee visit to India. We now accept that the Duke had no personal involvement in the decision to charter the plane, did not travel in a Rolls, and that the British High Commissioner’s residence was deemed too small for his party on this occasion. We apologise to the Duke of York for the misunderstanding.

Sorry we said you were an extremist

This clarification was published by the Sun on 7 December 2012:

In a story headlined "Lad of 12 leader of Cornish liberators" (Oct 23) we stated that Cornish extremists had recruited a 12-year-old boy to run a division of their "liberation army".

We are happy to clarify that the Mid Cornwall Liberation Army, an outdoors adventure group run by the boy and his friends, has nothing to do with the militant Cornish National Liberation Army.

Mail apologises over swimming claims

Daily Mail, 22 September 2012:

Every medal won by the British Swimming team at the London Olympics cost a grand total of £8.4million each.

That's a hell of a price to pay, particularly when none of those lavishly funded gongs proved to be gold. The silver won by Michael Jamieson, plus Rebecca Adlington's two bronzes, were a truly grim return from £25,144,600 of public investment...

Did you know that Britain's swimming team are controlled by a chief executive living in Germany and a performance director based in Australia?

It's true. CEO David Sparkes and coaching supremo Michael Scott pop in and out of the country from their overseas homes.

The Mail, 6 February 2013:

British Swimming: A sports report on September 22, 2012, calculated that three medals won by the British team at the London Olympics had cost £8.4million each. In fact, the team's budget also funded diving, in which Tom Daley won a medal, and the Paralympic team, which won 39 medals. We also accept that David Sparkes, CEO of British Swimming, lives in the UK, not Germany, including for tax purposes, and apologise for any contrary impression given.

Mail on Sunday pays damages over fraud claims

Last Thursday, MediaGuardian reported:

A top banking executive has won a high court apology and £60,000 in libel damages plus £690,000 in costs from the Mail on Sunday, over articles that falsely implied he was at the heart of a criminal mortgage fraud.

Irfan Qadir, a former Bank of Scotland director, sued over libels in two Mail on Sunday articles in May and June 2011.

The apology was published by the Mail on Sunday a few days later:

An article ‘Bank of Scotland director “drove us out with dogs’’’ on May 8, 2011, reported allegations in a writ that in 2005, Irfan Qadir committed perjury and intimidated three businessmen, causing fear for their own and their families’ lives, to gain control of a nightclub. The article did not report Mr Qadir’s denial of the claims and wrongly alleged that he had declined to comment.

A further article, ‘Top banker named in mortgage fraud case’ on June 19, 2011, reported an allegation in a separate case that Mr Qadir centred in a £49million bank fraud. In fact, the judge in that case made it clear this was unsupported by evidence in the five-month trial, stating that Mr Qadir did not lend any money and the allegations in court should not have been made. We are no longer pursuing a defence that the allegations in the articles are true. We apologise to Mr Qadir for the distress and embarrassment caused and are paying substantial damages and legal costs.

'Element of choice'

On 27 January, the Mail on Sunday published the following apology:

The headline to an article last Sunday about a tragic road accident may have implied that Ben Brooks-Dutton had some element of choice about saving either his wife or son. We would like to clarify that there was no such choice and we apologise for any contrary suggestion.

The Sun vs Gordon Brown

The Sun, 21 October 2012:

In his column “Toffs who play at being comrades” (September 30) Toby Young stated that Gordon Brown now charges £70,000 for an after-dinner speech.

We are happy to clarify that Mr Brown does not receive such money personally, and that all revenue from his speaking engagements goes to fund Mr and Mrs Brown’s charitable work and their involvement in public life.

The Sun, 25 October 2012:

“Brown's duty bill hits £114k” (July 18). We are happy to clarify that Gordon Brown’s allowance goes directly to office and staff costs incurred as a former PM and is not received by him personally. We acknowledge that expenses incurred in staffing are not “earned” as stated. His only personal income is his salary as an MP and he renounced the pension he is entitled to as a former Prime Minister.

The Sun, 18 January 2013:

In an article “Brown in £30,000 expenses row” (Aug 18), based on the Conservative Party’s statements about Gordon Brown’s expenses, we would like to make clear that Mr Brown does not claim for accommodation expenses when visiting London on parliamentary business. We regret any confusion caused.

The Sun, 22 January 2013:

In an article ‘Gordon is browned off’ (Sept 28) we stated that a Gordon Brown press conference in New York was cancelled when only one reporter turned up.

We would like to make it clear that Mr Brown was delayed at an earlier United Nations meeting which overran, paying tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi. We are happy to clarify the position.

(Huge hat-tip to Tim Fenton at Zelo Street for spotting these.)

'May have given the impression he's a cocaine user'

A correction in today's Mail says:

An article published on 22 October 2012 about world-renowned heart surgeon Dr Jeffrey Moses which first appeared in the New York Post may have given the false impression that he is currently a cocaine user who is, and was for years, allowed by his hospital to operate on patients while under the influence of the drug.

The article reported allegations of cocaine use made by Dr Moses’s ex-wife in their 2005 divorce case which were proven to be conclusively false by two identical tests which were negative. The decision by the New York Presbyterian Hospital not to discipline Dr Moses was based on these tests and a court-ordered examination by a psychiatrist which concluded he had no cocaine addiction problems.

The New York Post has accepted that it did not intend its article to give the impression that Dr Moses performed heart surgery under the influence of cocaine. We are also happy to make clear that the New York Post has said it regretted any misunderstanding caused by its article and any harm it caused Dr Moses personally or professionally.

Notice the Mail doesn't make any statement of regret or apology of its own.

'In fact...her father is still alive'

A correction in today's Daily Mail explains that someone they said was dead is, in fact, alive:

An article in Tuesday's paper said that the parents of Tory MP Fiona Bruce had both died after being placed on the Liverpool Care Pathway.

In fact, Ms Bruce informs us that, while this was true of her mother, her father is still alive six months after she refused permission for him to be put on to the controversial system.

This is not the first time the Mail has made this mistake - in 2010 they referred to the 'late' Tony (father of Fern) Britton and to the 'late' Sylvia (mother of Carole) Caplin when both were very much alive.

Sorry we said you were a soft-porn actress

The Mail has published this apology today:

Our serialisation of a biography of Mick Jagger in July erroneously described model and Brazilian TV presenter Luciana Gimenez Morad as a soft-porn actress. It also said that she had received a lump sum payment from the star after their son was born.

In fact, while she does receive monthly child support, she neither requested nor received a lump sum. We apologise to Ms Gimenez Morad.

Sun admits single Italian isn't Bulgarian father-of-seven

On 13 October, the Sun published the following apology:

Salvatore Quero

In a story headlined ‘Greedy Bulgars’ (September 11), Salvatore Quero, a single Italian man, was identifiable in a photograph as part of a Bulgarian family claiming benefits.

We are happy to clarify that Mr Quero is not a member of the family and was simply providing them with food.

The Sun's website still carries the photo:

However, the caption has now been changed to:

Benefits takeaway ... concerned male passer-by helps family enjoy food from McDonald's.

Now that they know that the single Italian in the photo isn't the Bulgarian father-of-seven. 

The Mail's Star Trek/Wars confusion

From the corrections column in today's Daily Mail:

William Shatner was of course in Star Trek not Star Wars as a feature in Friday’s paper wrongly stated.

Mail on Sunday publishes second apology for front page splash

In June, the Mail on Sunday's Richard Dyson and Martin Delgado carried out an investigation into the website Yipiii. The results were splashed on the front page:

The paper claimed that their reporters had spent £162 on the website and:

only won a £19.99 fish bowl. 

And:

The reporters did not use the free plays they were offered.

A week later, they admitted that wasn't true:

In our front-page report last week we said Mail on Sunday reporters had spent £162 on Yipiii plays but won only a £20 toy goldfish bowl.

In fact, one reporter used ‘free plays’ acquired during the experiment and went on to win an iPad worth up to £400.

And in a different experiment another journalist spent £40 and won £35 of flowers and a £101 iPod Nano.

We apologise to Yipiii for not mentioning these.

Also, we said customers can top up their accounts as often as they like. In fact, top-ups are limited to £200 per day. 

Yes - the paper 'forgot' to mention the £500-worth of Apple goods it had won on the site.

Today, they have apologised again:

In a report (June 10) on the ‘winmarket’ Yipiii Ltd, which offers a roulette game to win online shopping, we said we had 162 £1 plays but won only a £20 toy.

In fact, the 162 plays included ‘free spins’ won on previous plays and after our test, but before publication, a reporter won a £400 iPad with remaining credit. Players have an 85 per cent chance of a prize or further play and non-winning stakes can be used as discounts on purchases through the site.

Users need to actively log in for the roulette wheel to appear when they are shopping. We apologise to Yipiii for not including this information in the article.

Unlike the original 'investigation', neither apology has appeared on the front page. 

Mail apologises to Nicolas Cage and BBC over 'tax evasion' claims

Actor Nicolas Cage has won an apology and 'undisclosed damages' from MailOnline after an article published on 1 September called him a 'tax evader'.

His solicitor Paul Tweed said:

"My client has secured a complete vindication of his reputation following the publication of a categoric retraction by the MailOnline for what they immediately acknowledged was a completely unfounded and defamatory allegation of tax evasion.

"While my client acknowledges the MailOnline's prompt apology, which was one of the quickest that I have negotiated in recent times, together with the payment of undisclosed damages and his legal costs, he nonetheless remains very concerned that such a false and outrageous headline should have been published in the first place."

MailOnline has now published the following:

On 1 September we wrongly referred to Nicolas Cage as a “tax evader”. While Mr Cage has owed a substantial sum to the IRS for unpaid taxes, he has never been accused or found guilty of any tax crime. We apologise to Mr Cage for any distress and embarrassment caused by our error.

This is not the only time the Mail has got in trouble over a 'tax evasion' claim in recent months. On 23 July, the paper splashed 'BBC tells stars to dodge tax' on its front page:

Chief Financial Office Zarin Patel responded to the 'misleading reports', explaining:

Contrary to these reports, we have not told thousands of workers to go 'off the books' in order to cut our tax bill, neither are we 'avoiding national insurance' contributions by paying individuals via service companies...

Let me be clear, the BBC does not expect anyone to use the service company arrangement to 'dodge tax' by paying the lower corporation rate when they are not eligible to do so...

All the arrangements that the BBC uses have been designed in conjunction with HMRC. Far from being an attempt to 'dodge tax', the arrangements are designed to ensure the correct amount is payable...

On 7 August, the Mail published a correction:

A front page story and editorial comment on July 23 wrongly suggested that the BBC was instructing its staff to set up personal service companies in order to avoid or evade paying the correct amount of tax.

While it is true that the BBC have asked hundreds of workers to set up personal service companies, we accept that neither the BBC, nor its Chief Financial Officer, Zarin Patel, have told members of its payroll (or freelancers) to avoid or evade tax and apologise to them for any such suggestion.

Needless to say, this did not appear with the prominence of the original and was not published on the front page. 

Patel is currently taking legal action against the Daily Star, after it published its own version of the Mail's story (headline: 'Dodge tax or face the sack! BBC tells its stars'.)