“BARACK OBAMA
The 44th President of the United States is a Muslim who was born in Hawaii in 1961
— The Mercury, 3rd November, 2012”
Well, at least the Hobart Mercury accepts that Barack Obama was born in the United States. But a Muslim ?
Welcome to Media Watch, I’m Jonathan Holmes.
There are plenty of conspiratorial anti-Obama websites which claim that the President is a secret Muslim – after all, his second name is Hussein. But it’s just not true. And the mainstream media, including News Ltd’s Hobart Mercury, are really supposed to get stuff like that right.
The howler appeared in a biographical sidebar to election analysis by News Ltd US correspondent Paul Toohey.
But we’re told by The Mercury’s editor, Andrew Holman, that Toohey wasn’t responsible for the misinformation.
“It was a mistake by a sub-editor… He re-wrote a longer piece by Paul Toohey which discussed Obama’s background, but he misinterpreted it.
— Andrew Holman, Editor, The Mercury, 5th November, 2012″
He sure did. The next day, The Mercury’s sister paper, the Sunday Tasmanian , published the full story by Paul Toohey in a big double-page spread :
” SEPARATING THE MEN FROM MYTH
Detractors of Barack Obama would have us believe that the 44th President of the US is a “Muslim who was born in Kenya”.
— Sunday Tasmanian, 4th November, 2012″
Andrew Holman told us that the Sunday Tasmanian…
“published a correction as well.
— Andrew Holman, Editor, The Mercury, 5th November, 2012”
But where? It wasn’t on the double-page that contained Paul Toohey’s story. We eventually found it tucked away at the bottom of page 8…
“GETTING IT STRAIGHT
A profile on the US Presidential race in yesterday’s Mercury gave a wrong impression about the religious affiliation of President Barack Obama.
President Obama is not a Muslim
— Sunday Tasmanian, 4th November, 2012”
‘Gave a wrong impression’. Why not just say, ‘Gave wrong information’?
Read more, including comments, here
• Meanwhile the UK Telegraph says The Guardian is ‘seriously discussing’ end to print edition …
Senior figures at Guardian News & Media are seriously discussing the move to an entirely online operation, it has been claimed, leaving Mr Rusbridger increasingly isolated.
The longstanding Guardian chief wants to develop the Guardian’s digital-only US operation before pulling the plug on the print edition, in the hope that it will provide a useful blueprint for the online business in Britain.
However, trustees of the Scott Trust, GNM’s ultimate owner, fear it does not have enough cash on its books to sustain the newspapers for that long, according to More About Advertising, the website run by former Marketing Week editor Stephen Foster.
The Guardian publisher has spent the last few years battling to stem losses of £44m a year. However, it has been slow to make savings and any money that it has clawed back has been spent on expanding its US and online operations.
The investments helped to fuel a 16pc increase in digital revenues to £45.7m last year, but this was not enough to balance GNM’s operating losses which widened from £31.1m.
Read more, with full links, The Telegraph, here
• Propaganda Central … How News Ltd spins it…
Dear colleagues,
I’m delighted to announce the launch of the new people & culture operating model today. This model is an important investment in our journey to become the most admired media company worldwide and a step forward in simplifying our people management practices.
Our new model brings people & culture together as one national team, connects us to the business through people & culture business partnering teams, who work closely with our executives and senior leaders, and gives us new capabilities through investment in centres of excellence for the design of group wide frameworks.
All of which streamlines how we work, delivering more efficient, consistent advice and service across the network.
A key change is the introduction of PeopleConnect, our national service desk providing a single point of contact for people, payroll and general recruitment queries.
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