(Credit: Image by London Allen. photo via Chilean government)

Chilean president Michelle Bachelet is suing magazine Qué Pasa after it published a transcript of a purported phone call by a real estate developer who brought up Bachelet in discussing the Caval case, which has led to corruption charges against Bachelet’s daughter-in-law.

“Shortly after the transcript was published, the editorial team at Qué Pasa published a note saying they had edited the article and removed “fragments where serious allegations were made against third parties.” It also apologized to those involved and its readers,” the Knight Center for Journalism reported.

That note, according to a Google Translate, reads:

“The original of this article was published after its online publication Thursday evening May 26, removing fragments where serious allegations were made against third parties.  Although at the outset it was made explicit that this is only the transcript of telephone conversations a defendant in the Caval case record is held by the prosecutor in the case, and that his veracity was not in any case credited, the direction of this magazine has determined that publication of such serious charges does not meet the standards of this means. We apologize to those concerned and to our readers for the confusion caused.”

In a May 31 statement on its website, Que Pasa said in part:

“All authorities are subject to scrutiny and control of citizens, and the media have a special mission in this sense since made this control of those in power as an essential part of the functioning of democracy . The President vizen does not diminish this pressure, since both qualities are inseparable. Otherwise it would not be understood that the filing of the lawsuit was announced by the Minister Secretary General of Government.”

iMediaEthics has written to Que Pasa and Bachelet’s office for comment.

Hat Tip: Ethical Journalism Network