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Wednesday Mar 04, 2009
Newspapers told to tell the truth
We've all seen countless stories in the newspapers about "outrageous" young people who "trash" a family home in the name of a birthday party (usually after organising it via a social network).
And whilst there is no doubting that it can sometimes happen (these pictures prove testament to that*), it's far more the case that a good story makes better copy than the truth.
So it's good to see that a parent has stood up to eight newspapers and Sky News and received a substantial payout for libelling her by suggesting her daughter's party got out-of-hand.
Amanda Hudson took the action even though there was no suggestion that she was to blame. Her legal counsel, David Price, said "The true position is that the house was not trashed, wrecked or destroyed. Only very minor damage was caused to one door and no property was stolen."
Let's hope Amanda's daughter Jodie has signed our respect pledge.
* It's worth pointing out that if 2000 people did turn up as the result of a single Radio 1 shout-out, it will go down as by far the most effective radio commercial/call-to-action ever broadcast.
Update: Craig Silverman's excellent corrections blog has some of the apologies.
