Daily Mail clock in 2010 (Alex.muller/Wikipedia)
The UK Daily Mail accused building tycoon Steve Morgan of having “exploited his position to line his pockets in a greedy, unethical and morally unacceptable way.”
The Mail‘s Aug. 2017 article, “Building tycoons using staff discounts to snap up homes meant for families,” claimed Morgan was fraudulently buying houses at discount. Because of the errors and allegations, Morgan complained. Now, a year and a half later, the Mail has apologized and donated money to charity.
Morgan’s lawyer, Matt Himsworth, said in a statement on his website in part: “Whilst the Mail immediately removed the online version of the article after receiving our complaint it has taken 18 months, and determination from Steve, to achieve this compelling result and full vindication for him.”
Himsworth told iMediaEthics by e-mail,
“The apology, statement in open court and damages (which benefitted the good causes the Steve Morgan Foundation supports) were deserved vindication for Steve. They were hard won, though, and came after more than 18 months of litigation and after the Mail’s defence of honest opinion had been struck out by the judge Nicklin J.”
In a press release statement, Morgan said in part: “The suggestion that I would ‘greedily’ take self-advantage at the expense of low-income families is hugely insulting and has caused me a great deal of anger and distress. These allegations fly in the face of all that I stand for.”
The Mail‘s Feb. 11 apology reads:
“An article of August 24 2017 headlined ‘Building tycoons using staff discounts to snap up homes meant for families’ said that Redrow PLC chairman Steve Morgan C.B.E. had made a very large personal gain by buying 6 houses – built by Redrow as affordable homes – for £860,000, a substantial discount to their market value of £2.1m. In fact, £860,000 was the highest offer made, so we were wrong to allege that Mr Morgan had exploited his position to line his pockets in a greedy, unethical and morally unacceptable way. He did not buy the houses at a discount to their market value, and they are being rented out to local residents in accordance with affordable housing criteria. We apologise to Mr Morgan for the distress and damage to his reputation and, at his request, have made a substantial donation to charity in lieu of damages. “
Hat Tip: Press Gazette
