Earlier this week the Daily Star made itself a laughing stock as it failed to apply even basic common sense tests to a story which anybody - bar the journalist and editor involved - could have spotted as a rather tasteless spoof.
Now the Daily Star has been forced to issue an embarrassing apology - and pay damages to the company it defamed. The wording of its comprehensive apology leaves very little the imagination in terms of just how flawed the paper's news-gathering processes are:
"On 21 July we published an article claiming that the videogames company Rockstar Games were planning to release a version of their popular Grand Theft Auto video games series titled "Grand Theft Auto Rothbury".
"We also published what we claimed would be the cover of this game, solicited comments from a family member impacted by the recent tragedy and criticised Rockstar Games for their alleged plans.
"We made no attempt to check the accuracy of the story before publication and did not contact Rockstar Games prior to publishing the story. We also did not question why a best-selling and critically acclaimed fictional games series would choose to base one of their most popular games on this horrifying real crime event.
"It is now accepted that there were never any plans by Rockstar Games to publish such a game and that the story was false. We apologise for publishing the story using a mock-up of the game cover, our own comments on the matter and soliciting critical comments from a grieving family member. We unreservedly apologise to Rockstar Games and we have undertaken not to repeat the claims again.
"We have also agreed to pay them a substantial amount in damages which they are donating to charity."
The stupidest thing I'd ever heard. This is exactly why nobody should read these idiotic tabloid newspapers.
Posted by: Anonymousteenager.wordpress.com | Jul 24, 2010 at 22:29