The Scottish Daily Record published story in May about police detective John Tweedie, who was cleared of charges for “throwing his wife down the stairs and punching her friend.” The newspaper ended up apologizing, but not for its claims about Tweedie, who it reported was “previously warned by the force over his friendship with a rapist.”
Instead, the Daily Record apologized to a woman named in the story who it said was friends with Tweedie. A Trinity Mirror spokesperson told iMediaEthics by e-mail, “We have agreed to remove the mention of the complainant from the online article and have apologised.”
The woman, Laura Wells, complained to the UK press regulator the Independent Press Standards Organisation that the article’s inclusion of her maiden name and photograph invaded her privacy, intruded and broke guidelines for reporting on crime.
Wells said “she had no relevance to the story,” IPSO reported.
The newspaper argued “she was genuinely relevant to the story,” but still agreed to apologize, delete her name and take down her photograph.
Hat Tip: Hold the Front Page