Who's Sorry Now?
The Guardian ran a story the other day - a big splash of a story - which claimed that The Sun newspaper had obtained information about Gordon Brown's family - by using unlawful means.
The Guardian today retracted this claim and apologised to The Sun - but on Page 36 of today's newspaper.
Yes, that's right - buried away in the bowels of the paper - where few readers will appreciate the significance of the Guardian's climbdown.
How disappointing.
But this childish behaviour gets right to the heart of the present Press Complaints Code - because apologies do not currently have to be given the same prominence as the original story.
Instead of doing the right thing and taking a mistake or misjudgement on the chin - papers can get away with a teeny-weeny, half-hearted apology - which is really not much of an apology at all.
Now if the newspapers had to give the same coverage to any apology - as they gave to the original story - that would make a big difference to their future behaviour.
So get rid of all the costs and damages nonsense.
Just ensure that when a newspaper or anyone else has to say sorry - to a reader or a rival - that they are required to do so in a proper and meaningful way.
The Guardian today retracted this claim and apologised to The Sun - but on Page 36 of today's newspaper.
Yes, that's right - buried away in the bowels of the paper - where few readers will appreciate the significance of the Guardian's climbdown.
How disappointing.
But this childish behaviour gets right to the heart of the present Press Complaints Code - because apologies do not currently have to be given the same prominence as the original story.
Instead of doing the right thing and taking a mistake or misjudgement on the chin - papers can get away with a teeny-weeny, half-hearted apology - which is really not much of an apology at all.
Now if the newspapers had to give the same coverage to any apology - as they gave to the original story - that would make a big difference to their future behaviour.
So get rid of all the costs and damages nonsense.
Just ensure that when a newspaper or anyone else has to say sorry - to a reader or a rival - that they are required to do so in a proper and meaningful way.
