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Weekly apologises over inaccurate reader’s letter

A weekly newspaper has apologised after publishing a reader’s letter which was “inaccurate and potentially defamatory.”

Frankie Green complained to the Press Complaints Commission about a letter published in the Whitstable Times on 29 March  about her and the Whitstable and Faversham branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaignn of which she is a member.

The complaint was resolved when the newspaper published the following statement and apology: “On March 29 the Times carried a letter from Steve O’Mara replying to one from Frankie Green about Canterbury City Council’s decision to allow Veolia to tender for the area’s waste disposal contract.

“In Mr O’Mara’s letter, headlined ‘Boycott news for Frankie’, he suggested she and her colleagues had sent financial aid to Palestinian/terrorist groups which could be used by terrorist supporters in this country. He linked that to the London bus and Tube 7/7 attacks.

“Ms Green, a member of the Whitstable and Faversham branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: ‘This is patently absurd and completely false, inaccurate and misleading. We are peace campaigners who abhor all forms of terrorism and support only non-violent protest against injustice.’

“We accept Ms Green’s comments and apologise for any distress and offence the letter may have caused.

3 comments

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  • August 1, 2012 at 10:26 am
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    Goodness. Weren’t alarm bells ringing all over the place? They certainly would have been in my newspaper (I hope…).

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  • August 1, 2012 at 11:54 am
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    I am intrigued as to how a letter about local waste contracts can turn into a spat about Palestine! Still, I haven’t read the originals…

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  • August 1, 2012 at 3:10 pm
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    GladImOutofIt, if you lived in the area you would soon realise how mind-numbingly annoying an issue this really is. Be glad you don’t!

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