Apologies round-up

From Regret the Error, a few recent newspaper apologies.

The Mirror - sorry for mixing up victim and perpetrator in stabbing:

On 19 June 2008 we reported that Britain's Next Top Model finalist Jasmia Robinson's unnamed boyfriend, was in custody for allegedly stabbing a suspected love rival.

We wish to make clear that her boyfriend David Obanobi was in fact the victim of the knife attack and not the perpetrator and was not in custody.

We apologise to Mr Obanobi for the distress and embarrassment caused.

The People - sorry for using a photo of the wrong house:

On 20 December 2009 we published a story about Caroline Cartwight breaching her Asbo for noisy sex. However, the picture of her house was of a neighbouring property and the description of the house as 'an end of terrace' is incorrect.

We are happy to set the record straight and apologise to Mrs Marjorie Ball for the error.

The Express (Scottish edition) - sorry for lying and invading your privacy

On January 18, 2010, we published an article within the Scottish Daily Express concerning the recent purchase of a property by author JK Rowling, entitled 'Party must’ve been wizard – Rowling pays GBP 300,000 extra to move straight into new mansion'.

In it we published two photographs of the inside of Ms Rowling’s new property. Further, we alleged Ms Rowling offered GBP 300,000 on top of the purchase price in order for the seller to vacate the property within two weeks so that she could hold a Christmas Party there, and, that Ms Rowling viewed only two rooms in the property before deciding to purchase it.

Not only do we now accept that our article was false and wholly inaccurate, we also acknowledge that we should not have invaded Ms Rowling’s privacy, and that of her family, by publishing photographs depicting the interior of her new property.

We apologise to Ms Rowling and her family for any distress that our article may have caused.

The Mirror (and the Guardian) - sorry for saying your school is full of bullies:

On Monday last, under the headline 'Saoirse: Pupils weren’t Lovely to me', we reported remarks attributed to actor Saoirse Ronan concerning her experience at school in which it was stated that pupils, teachers and staff at school gave her a hard time.

We identified the school wrongly as being Kilkenny College. We acknowledge that, contrary to our report, Saoirse Ronan is not a pupil of Kilkenny College and has never enrolled as a pupil or attended classes there.

We accept that the remarks were not made concerning any teacher, staff-member or pupil at Kilkenny College and we apologise to them for associating them with this story and for any upset or embarrassment caused as a result.

We accept that Kilkenny College is an educational institution which guards the interests of all its pupils with care and we withdraw any suggestion to the contrary in our report. We are happy to correct the position.

And, not yet on Regret the Error but sure to be soon...The Telegraph - sorry we implied you were a bit racist:

In our article “Newsreader sues ITV for colleague's 'racist mimicking'" (22 Nov 09), which referred to an Employment Tribunal claim brought by Lisa Aziz against ITV, we repeated allegations made by Ms Aziz against Steve Scott, the ITV newsreader, including an allegation that Mr Scott had made racially discriminatory remarks about some of his colleagues.

For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to make clear that we did not in any way seek to adopt or endorse any of the claims made against ITV or the allegations made against Mr Scott in particular. As referred to in our article, following an internal investigation by ITV - which it described as “full and thorough” - Mr Scott was cleared of the allegations made against him. We apologise to Mr Scott for any distress caused by any contrary impression our article may have given.