The Daily Mail today launched the page two ‘corrections and clarifications’ column announced by editor Paul Dacre at the Leveson Inquiry last week.
It also featured in today’s edition of the Metro and yesterday’s Mail on Sunday. Both titles are also part of the Associated Newspapers stable, if which Dacre is editor in chief.
Introducing the new column, the Daily Mail said: ‘The average issue of the Daily Mail contains around 80,000 words – the equivalent of a paperback book –most of which are written on the day under tremendous pressure of deadlines.
‘Huge efforts are made to ensure our journalism meets the highest possible standards of accuracy but it is inevitable that mistakes do occur.
‘This new column provides an opportunity to correct those errors quickly and prominently.’
There are five corrections and clarifications in today’s paper including one about a report which stated that barrister Michael Levy had beeen arrested on suspicion of ‘carousel’ fraud. The Mail said it now understands that Levy was arrested on suspicion of irregularies in his personal tax position, which he denies.
There were four corrections in the Mail on Sunday, including one which related to the paper incorrectly printing the Union Flag in a tea towel promotion.
Dacre first revealed the corrections and clarifications column at a Leveson Inquiry seminar in London last Wednesday, during a speech in which he admitted the popular perception was that the Press Complaints Commission was broken and needed to be reformed.
In order to regain trust, he argued, newspapers needed to give corrections more prominence.
In August, DMGT launched a review of editorial controls and procedures in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.
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