A weekly newspaper has committed what its editor termed an “embarrassing cock-up” after mistaking one of its newly re-elected MPs for a former leader of Sierra Leone.
The Haringey Independent published a photo on its website which purported to be Tottenham MP David Lammy – but was actually Julius Maada Bio, a former head of state of the African country.
The Newsquest-owned title made the mistake in a story saying that Mr Lammy was considering a bid to become leader of the Labour party in the wake of Ed Miliband’s resignation.
Its online story has since been updated to say that the Labour MP has now ruled himself out of the race, although he hopes to be the party’s candidate for London Mayor, and the correct photo has been added.
The photo of Julius Maada Bio which was used by the Haringey Independent.
Mr Lammy, pictured below, tweeted a photo of the newspaper’s story yesterday, saying: “If anyone knows who this guy is please let him know he’s now the MP for Tottenham…”
The Haringey Independent is now edited by Tim Jones, following a restructure last month which saw him take responsibility for 18 titles as group editor of Newsquest’s North London, West Essex and South Bucks operations.
He told HTFP: “This was an embarrassing cock up for which there is little explanation beyond a reporter being too trusting of a photographer’s caption. Lesson learned, I hope.
“Happily David Lammy has a good sense of humour. He is to be congratulated on his re-election as MP for Tottenham.”
Julius Maada Bio was the military head of state of Sierra Leone from January to March 1996 after leading a military coup.
He is an active member of the Sierra Leone People’s Party and was its presidential candidate for the elections in 2012.
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I suppose being editor of 18 titles has its drawbacks but why would a “reporter” trust a photographer’s caption? Surely the subs would be alive to this kind of… Oh, hold on a moment. They surely haven’t, have they? Well, serves them right then.
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Even if they can’t recognise their local MP, you’d think they’d be able to spell Miliband correctly..
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Well, it aint gonna cost nuffink m- apart from in terms of reputation, regard, esteem and public confidence.
But when did that matter to today’s company hedgehogs?
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Just goes to prove why photographic staff are crucial for our industry! Top brass take note: Keep photo staff, or possibly risk getting your ass sued for thousands. A small price to pay and of course, a no-brainer.
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I could not stop laughing when I read about this mistake. This is what happens when staff are cut to the bone and subs are nowhere to be seen.
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Mistakes happen even when papers had a full quota of staff. I just hope the Editor doesn’t give the ‘scapecoat’ too much of a hard time and we all should remember nobody is perfect.
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@showbeastie: Why are you saying this is down to photographic cuts?
The photographer captioned the picture incorrectly in the first place.
Having a photographer there would not have stopped this as I know of no newsrooms where if you are looking for a picture for a web story you need to go and find a photographer to get one out of the archive for you.
Also not sure what age most of you are living in but web copy has to be direct, newspapers are competing enough without waiting for someone to sub a breaking web story.
Yes there are some stupid mistakes in the copy (MiLLiband for one) but to blame it on cuts is stupid.
Even a decade ago my web first stories were never proofed.
Grow up and move on
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Desker: not sure what planet you’re living on but it sure ain’t Planet Journalism if you really are so cavalier about facts and can brush off these appalling errors as minor transgressions that could happen to anyone etc. Lucky for the editor that the MP obviously has a sense of humour. The next affected person may well not.
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Again, it all comes down to reporters not knowing their patch, and the significant people in it.
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Pete, London, is correct. ‘Everyone makes mistakes’ is an easy get out when the real issue is the reporter didn’t have the basic knowledge of his or her own patch to know that person is clearly not the local MP (or how to spell Miliband properly).
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i wasn’t brushing them off I was just saying people blaming lack of subs and photographers are missing the point.
The error here lies solely with one person. The reporter who didn’t know who Tottenham’s MP was and could not spell Miliband.
Trying to make this into a bigger issues about subs and toggys is senseless.
It’s all well and good saying the reporter needs more training and support but not to know who your MP is goes beyond that. That person needs to take a hard look at themself
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Interesting that this group editor blames a photographer’s caption. This picture was obviously either an agency stock pic in which case it’s unlikely to have been wrongly captioned, or more likely to have been lifted from the internet by a reporter, in which case it wouldn’t have been captioned at all.
Desker et al have hit the nail on the head: A reporter who doesn’t know what a local MP looks like.
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The first few photos on a google images search of Julius Bio brings up the photo they used, clearly lifted from the web. David Lammy has been an MP for 15 years, even I recognised that it wasn’t him, and I’m 100+ miles away from Tottenham. This is what happens when senior journalists are replaced with fresh NTCJ meat that think they know it all.
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