On 7 March 2010, we published an article by Zoe Margolis. In part of the first edition of the newspaper and online, this article carried the headline, “I was a hooker who became an agony aunt”. This was written by the newspaper not Ms Margolis. We accept that Ms Margolis is not and never has been “a hooker” or otherwise involved in the sex industry. The wording of the headline was a mistake and seriously defamatory of Ms Margolis. We offer our sincere apologies to Ms Margolis for the damage to her reputation and the distress and embarrassment which she has suffered. Link

Thanks, Alex!

I don’t have any other details to offer, other than to note that these are fake corrections:

In our Academy Awards preview last week, we incorrectly predicted that Paul Blart: Mall Cop would sweep the ceremony with 14 awards.
When the Mavericks play the Oklahoma City Thunder next month, we intend to repeatedly refer to them as the Oklahoma City Blunders. Get it? For that, we are so very sorry in advance.
In our review of John Mayer’s recent concert, we inaccurately described the over-sharing rock star as a “semi-competent hack bag who makes faces like a turtle in mid-poop while playing insufferably bland blues-rock mayonnaise.” The correct description should have further specified that his face resembles that of a “common, yellow mud turtle, indigenous to the Central United States, in mid-poop.”
Remember last night, when we were at dinner with your parents, and I made a big deal about the lingering rotten-egg smell, and demanded to know who farted, and accused your mom of farting, and kept sternly reprimanding her for farting all the way to the parking lot? I regret the error.

In a story published on Page 3 of the Ottawa Sun Wednesday, Grace Xin was reported as having said that she came to Ottawa because “people like herself from southern China chose Ottawa because they’d like a break from the heat and crime.” In fact, Xin said she choose Ottawa because she would like to get a break from the heat and climate. She also appreciates that Ottawa is a safe and multicutural city in which to raise children.

Below is a front page article from the Star Press in Muncie, IN:

We screwed up.
And to Tom Collins, we’re sorry.
What was reported on this newspaper’s sports pages yesterday and on our Web site for much of the day on Wednesday was wrong.
Collins, athletic director at Ball State, did not apply for the AD’s job at Dixie State College. A Tom Collins did apply for that job, but it was a different Tom Collins, not Tom Collins of BSU.
But just as much as this is an apology to Collins, this is an explanation. This is your newspaper, and the way we see it, you’re owed that at least.
Reporter Doug Zaleski had been chasing a rumor for about a week and a half that Collins was leaving. That’s when a source had originally told him that Collins had applied for the position at the school in St. George, Utah.
Now, understand that these sort of out-of-the-blue rumors aren’t uncommon to us. So as we often do in trying to flush out the validity of a rumor, Zaleski called the local newspaper, in this case, The Spectrum, which covers Dixie State. What, he wanted to know, was its sports staff hearing? If anything.
That practice, you should know, is commonplace. We, for instance, get calls all the time asking if we know anything about this rumor or that.
Anyway, The Spectrum didn’t know anything about Tom Collins and, indeed, first became aware of him thanks to us.
Still, our contact with other sources led us to believe there was reason to keep chasing the story. There was no real reason to call Collins himself, yet, but enough suspicion to forge on.
So we did, and in that regard Zaleski called Dixie State’s sports information department and asked specifically about Ball State’s Tom Collins. The response was that the school had no response. It would have saved us all a lot of grief had the school, then and there, denied that Tom Collins of Ball State was a candidate for its AD job.
But it didn’t and on Tuesday night, Zaleski received an e-mail from The Spectrum that it was publishing a story on Wednesday that Dixie State College was hiring Jason Boothe as its next athletic director. To go along with its story, The Spectrum had requested a list of finalists for the position to be included in its report. That list had four names on it, one of which was … Tom Collins.
As a result, The Spectrum told Zaleski late Tuesday night — about three minutes after our print deadline, actually — that it would be publishing a story on Wednesday listing those candidates, including Ball State’s Tom Collins.
We called Collins, but it was late, real late.
He didn’t answer, and we had to make a decision.
So with our backs against the deadline wall and knowing everything we had learned in a week and a half of trying to validate rumors, we reported what The Spectrum reported — that Collins was a finalist for the athletic director position at Dixie State College but did not get the job.
By midday Wednesday, it was clear a mistake had been made.
The list of finalists provided to The Spectrum did include names, but not school affiliations. We did not know that until Wednesday.
It boils down to this: After conversations between our two newspapers, The Spectrum made the assumption that the Tom Collins on its list was Ball State’s. And we made the assumption that The Spectrum had confirmed that.
That old saying about the word assume? It’s true.
We were all wrong. And because we were, we brought potential harm to Tom Collins.
The bottom line: We should have called Collins when we first heard the rumors. We should have taken more care with our reporting. We should not have allowed a lack of decision time to rush our decision.
Sure, in a world that has come to expect stories quicker than instantly, news is perishable, but that’s no excuse.
Please understand, the words we publish day in and day out, from top to bottom of this newspaper, are not written lightly. And Wednesday’s story was no different.
Neither is this apology to Tom Collins, nor this explanation to you.

Romenesko also had a link to the offending story.

ON JUNE 28, 2006, The Advertiser published an article in which it was asserted Trish Draper had attended a meeting with Channel Ten executives in Canberra and threatened and pressured Channel Ten to drop Big Brother – Adults Only or their case for media law changes would be damaged by the Government.
We accept that Ms Draper did not attend any such meeting and at no time in any way pressured or threatened Channel Ten executives in connection with Big Brother – Adults Only and the media law changes.
We apologise to Ms Draper for the hurt and embarrassment our assertions about her have caused.

THE SUN today unreservedly apologises to Nicklas Bendtner after his stunning treble sent the Gunners storming into the Champions League quarter-finals.
Yesterday we may have inadvertently given the impression that Bendtner could not hit a cow’s Arsenal with a banjo.
But last night the giant striker’s brilliant Turn to Page 79
From Back Page display proved he really is a striker fit to grace the Emirates.
We slaughtered bungling Bendtner after his howlers in Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Burnley.
But the Pantomime Dane put those boobs ‘behind him’ with the first hat-trick of his career.
The 22-year-old striker was presented with the matchball after the match but he revealed he did not know the tradition existed.
He said: “I don’t know how this works but it is very good. It is fantastic to score a hat-trick. It has been a long time coming.
“Saturday was just one of those days. Those misses were not in my mind. I put it behind me and I was just focused on the game.”
Difficult Manager Arsene Wenger was delighted with Bendtner. He said: “It shows how quickly football changes.
“He had a difficult game on Saturday and had lots of chances. He had less chances tonight but scored three goals, so overall that is good for his confidence.”
Wenger insists he would be happy to face an English side in next week’s draw.
He added: “I don’t know who I would prefer. I have a funny feeling it might be good for us to play against an English team.
“We have not done well against Chelsea or Manchester United this year, so it could be a good chance for us to show what we can do.”
Skipper Cesc Fabregas watched the rout after jetting back from Spain where he had checks on his damaged hamstring. Link

More pseudo-apologies here.

In a story March 5 about the spring flood forecast in the upper Midwest, The Associated Press reported erroneously the number of people who were forced to evacuate last March and April during flooding in North Dakota and Minnesota. State emergency officials estimate that more than 30,000 people were evacuated, not millions. Link

An earlier version of this blog post said that Mr. Vangelakos touted taking out the garbage in the nude as a perk of living in an empty building. That was not correct. A different apartment dweller in California  made that statement. We regret the error. Link

The Tiwai Point aluminium smelter provided $200,000 for the kakapo recovery programme this year through Rio Tinto Alcan. A research trip to Spain, funded from this sponsorship, will cost $7000, not $200,000 as reported yesterday. We apologise for the error.

A video that appeared on newsday.com March 5-8 about a Garden City woman accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill her husband incorrectly included images of a man who is not her husband and who is unrelated to the story.

IN a report in The Australian yesterday (“States revolt on health plan”, Page 1) NSW Premier Kristina Keneally was quoted as saying state bureaucrats were “livid” over lack of consultation on health reforms, and that their first hint of the reforms was the cancellation of bilateral discussions. In fact, these comments were not made by Ms Keneally but by a senior official who did not wish to be named.

On Thursday, The Washington Times published an Op-Ed column by Dr. Gilbert Ross, medical director of the American Council on Science and Health, headlined, “When senators play doctor.” Dr. Ross has written for USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Times previously. Dr. Ross did not disclose to The Times that he had been convicted of Medicaid fraud and, for a period of years, lost his license to practice medicine. Had The Times known these facts, we would not have published the column. Link

An article published in the edition of January 18th 2010 referred to James White and his departure from AIB s corporate banking team in London in the context of a serious property fraud allegedly perpetrated in AIB by Achilleas Kallakis.
We accept that James White had no involvement whatsoever with Mr Kallakis, the management of the Kallakis property portfolio in AIB or any alleged fraud committed in AIB or elsewhere. We are happy to confirm that the departure of James White from AIB was entirely unconnected to these matters and that James White was headhunted from AIB by his current employer.
We unreservedly apologise to James White for the embarrassment and distress caused to him by this article. Link

UC San Diego turmoil: Sandy Banks’ column in Saturday’s Section A about anger over racial incidents at UC San Diego stated that President Obama’s father was Nigerian. The president’s father was from Kenya. Link

In an item in Amy Jenkins’s column last Saturday, ‘One big happy family three separate houses’ (27 February 2010) Amy Jenkins wrote that Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton live in two separate houses next to each other and that the nanny and two children live in a ‘third house in the same street’. In fact the house which the children and the nanny live in is next door to the parents’ houses and the three houses are interconnected. In fact the entire family live together in a single hoe that is fashioned from three adjacent former artist’s studios.The comment that this arrangement is ‘not so much eccentric as chilling’, is unfounded and we accept that Helena Bonham Carter is a caring mother and apologise to her for suggesting otherwise. Link