Morgunblaðið has decided to go several steps further in apologising for accusing a journalist from a competing paper of being investigated by the police.
As was reported, Morgunblaðið reported on the “spy computer” story, contending that the computer seized by police that was found in a spare room of parliament offices was linked to a 17-year-old boy who had been arrested last year for stealing documents from a lawyer, and that a journalist at DV, Ingi F. Vilhjálmsson, had not only bought documents from the boy, but was also being investigated by police in connection with the spy computer.
Vísir, doing its own investigation, contacted the police, who said that Ingi was not being investigated, and was not even considered connected to the spy computer.
As a result, a lawyer for the journalist demanded an apology from Morgunblaðið and the journalist who wrote the article, Agnes Bragadóttir, and was seeking 2.5 million ISK in damages. While Morgunblaðið did issue an apology of sorts in their own paper, saying that “facts were over-stated”, he told Vísir that he found the apology lacking, and said he was going to go ahead with plans to take Agnes to court.
Morgunblaðið has decided to up the ante, Vísir reports. According to their sources, Morgunblaðið will run full-page apologies in Morgunblaðið, Fréttablaðið, DV and Fréttatímann. Furthermore, Agnes will be paying damages to Ingi, of an undisclosed amount.
Related:
Newspaper Demands Apology And Damages From Morgunblaðið
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