The Ballad Of The Chief Reporter
Well, the timing of this is rather unfortunate.
If only someone had said something, eh?
Of course, someone did. Wings Over Scotland challenged the story within hours of its appearance in January this year, and covered it at length and in detail.
Surprisingly the Chief Reporter of the Herald, David Leask, wasn’t very grateful for our helpful input. He launched into a days-long tirade comprising long strings of indignant tweets dismissing the observations as mad “conspiracy theories” from a “hyperpartisan blogger” with no understanding of how Oxfam, news or reality itself worked.
Here are just a few of them:
(The one above has suddenly been deleted.)
(As has this one.)
Still, he was sort of right about one thing:
Having made this serious error in its front-page lead story, which in the regulator’s view “distorted the contents of the report by suggesting it referred to Scotland” – the exact thing that we said it did – and then fought the complaint to IPSO, the Herald has now been forced to publish a correction on an inside page FOUR MONTHS LATER.
The original front page and today’s correction page can be seen side-by-side below.
Readers can decide for themselves whether that constitutes “due prominence” or not.
.
[EDIT 3.40pm: Mr Leask is taking a rather bizarre angle on the story.]
Apparently the phrase “significantly inaccurate” no longer means “wrong”, and when you “apologise for that error” you’re not actually admitting you made one. We must have missed that particular meeting of the Semantics Committee.
ROFL – the internet wins against the mouth of Westminster.
La la la Leask.
Gross.
But that’s what we expect.
And all that from talented reporters – now when will the watchdog tell him his front page of the Sunday Herald picture and caption were also wrong. SH and Herald equally culpable and will be responsible for the loss of many ‘journalists’ jobs. He should be hanging his head in shame along with side kick AH – the two of them should walk if they had any conscience.
Journalist fails to understand the modern world.
Good for a laugh but that correction is a disgrace.
He’s dead Jim. You can stop now.
When/if Scottish journalists go to journoschool are morality and truth part of their education,
and if so do the teachers at journoschool see morality and truth as bad things if they get in the way of a `good` story,
outside Stu there is not one journalist (press ot tv) that is not morally corrupt and will say or write anything for a couple of bucks.
Worth repeating every single day;
Enemies of Scotland, pure and simple!!!
Hey we’re hyperparmesan!
Was there ever a time when ‘news’ papers could be trusted to be accurate, truthful, and trustworthy?
I certainly used to believe so. I’m sure others have the same memories.
However knowing what I know now, I wonder if they were actually always purveyors of fake news.
I’m sure they do print credible articles. The problem is, how can you tell what’s accurate and what falls far short of the truth?
WoS (and others) shine just enough light under the rock to let you know the nasties are in there.
Critically, the whole ‘justice system’ for dealing with transgressions is a bad joke. The correction should match the offence in both position and size.
Democracy needs a free and balanced media. Let’s hope Scotland gets that, some day.
HERAL CHIEF REPORTER IN SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION SHOCKER
It’s been a bad few weeks for the Herald publications (won’t try to be too specific as they may try and make that the focus). I’m looking for a reliable Sunday publication I feel I can trust for truth & impartiality, can’t find any I feel satisfies this criteria currently.
Leask filleted and skewered.
Herald’s bottom well and truly smacked.
Prominence – aye right.
This article is a prime example of exactly why we trust the New Media as opposed to the likes of The Herald, et al.
Read and learn, Leasky-boy.
Forgot to add, when does that training, so proudly extolled in a tweet, kick in?
@Morag
Genuine lol there.
The Herald’s widening credibility gap is “out of control”.
…thank goodness for professional journalism. It is unfortunate that this is so lacking in the MSM such as the Herald. The focus on negative spin appears to have blinded them to their own failings.
However we can be thankful that the Internet now provides such effective analysis of their (I will be generous here) shoddy work.
Do not buy the Herald, Do not visit their site, do all you can to highlight their poor quality.
The same applies to the Sunday Herald now of course!
It’s worth looking at the full IPSO ruling:
link to ipso.co.uk
which states the Herald claimed:
“the figures referred to in the sub-headline and the second paragraph were, in fact, from a 2015 Oxfam report, which the organisation had highlighted to media outlets when releasing the new report, and that an error in the editing process had misattributed them to the new report”
so at best the info it used was not from “findings over the last year” as claimed in the third tweet above. Perhaps if certain reporters spent less time on Twitter and more reading their sources more people might be buying their papers.
I’ll not be taking the Herald anytime soon. Its “Chief” reporter seems awfy similar in temprament to Trump and that puts a filter on the “news” I dont care for. Can the editor not do something about it?
Leask is a pathetic nonentity fantasist who is only important in his own head. I bet even the office teaboy is sniggering at him behind his back.
The good ship Herald is sinking and I shall laugh and dance on its grave when it dies
Hahaha!
Glad to hear that Mr.(I love corrections. I feel good about them) Leasky will be feeling happy today.
This is why we get so angry!
They get their lies out all over the front of their papers. The reader sees it, and the damage is done. It doesn’t matter when the apology comes. The damage is done over and over again.
They are being allowed to make up stories and spin fake headlines without any consequences. There should be a three strikes policy. You get caught lying 3 times in the space of a year and you get heavily fined, to the point where it hurts your business. You then get forced to put the apology as a front page splash , the same size as the original. If it’s the same editor or journalist they get personally fined as well.
It’s the only way to stop them and ultimately it would help the remaining good journalists.
Genius Rev Campbell.
You have him, hook line and sinker.
The nasty troll Leask, should pack it in.
Chief reporter lolz.How can anyone read his articles again without thinking bollox? Unlucky Stuart, dirty job but someone has to do it but know we’re eternally grateful that you do… wonder how they’ll spin his departure. I hear morale at the Herald is at rock bottom, employees are seething with certain figures supposedly.
This poll has been up since day before yesterday. For those who don’t Twitter, the question is ‘Who do you regard as the better ‘journalist’? David Leask or Rev Stu Campbell? 1,300 votes cast so far, 3% and 97% respectively.
Most votes were in before this latest story broke.
If you want to add your vote, the poll is here:
link to twitter.com
All us ilks are just gonna love this.
What’s that you say? Alex Salmond back in the game? Tee hee. Oh Lordy, Lordy! Unionist grumbles might show up on the Richter Scale today, a bit like fracking in England.
They might need a royal shower and a cold wedding to calm themselves down.
Crashed and burned. How the mighty have fallen from Olympus over the past few weeks.
I have to admit Rev, when you do a hatchet job on somebody it doesn’t miss the mark, and all with nothing but truth and fact.
Leasky will be taking his underwear to the laundry about now.
Rev Stu
There’s nothing left for Leasky now but to *see you at 4pm* after school if his Ma will let him
Watch oot fur his boot I hear he’s a durty fighter
It’s worth saying though that four months is speedy in IPSO terms (there’s another adjudication this month from something published in 2016) and that the Herald’s initial offer of a correction was judged to be perfectly acceptable by IPSO (para 8):
The Committee noted that front-page claims will often require front-page corrections. […] In these circumstances, there was no requirement for a front page reference to the correction, which should be published with due prominence in the publication’s corrections column on page 2. This correction was sufficient to avoid a breach of Clause 1 (ii), and should now be published.
Both of which explain why nearly all the media (including those who claim to be goody-goodies such as the Guardian and Private Eye) are determined to keep IPSO and are furiously attacking anyone who wants to change things and carry out the Leveson recommendations.
Whether such press ‘standards’ are acceptable to the public is another matter. If only we had some polling on the topic …
The decision was given on 3rd. May. So why does it take them Two Weeks to publish an already agreed text after being told to?
Hoping everyone will be so busy and excited organising their street party to notice?
So now we know why he’s been ranting.
Still I expect the ‘happy crowds across Scotland celebrate’ piece was written two weeks ago. Now he’s just got to find a lodge to take a picture of or maybe he could reuse an old better together one.
Well it just proves who’s the more credible, here’s a clue, it’s not Leask or the Herald.
No. No, it’s nothing like ‘due prominence’.
Hyperpartisan my ar$e.
Breeks says:
18 May, 2018 at 10:46 am
What’s that you say? Alex Salmond back in the game?
The Return of the Jedi
Just can’t keep a good man down. LOL. 🙂
I was tempted to buy the National the other day. Sadly, my resolution to read it all sank into the turgid sand. Laborious wearisome essays. Little edge or spice. Felt largely like a copy and paste affair.
I want to like it, but I can’t.
The papers print yesterday’s news, as we’ve seen it online already.
The only reason behind the Herald and particularly Sunday Heralds behaviour recently, that I can come up with, is that editorial policy has turned completely ‘pro-unionist.’The only other conceivable reason would be that of sheer journalistic incompetence…surely not?……oh hang on…..
For he who is Leask among you all is the one who is great.
Luke 9:48
Chief Reporter Leask may have been confident in his journalistic skills and powers of persuasion, but he has bitten off more than he can chew this time. Completely outgunned and outmatched. Well and truly filleted by our Rev. Someone will come along soon to scrape up the mess.
Ouch. 🙂
Yees ur aw invited lol
link to facebook.com
@Joe: come on, where else are you going to learn a truthful version about Scotland’s history, arts, languages etc? Let alone the upbeat business news, and the politics of course.
And the National Conversation is always a good read.
And I’m no great sports fan but I can enjoy some of the sports articles.
But perhaps your life is more exciting than mine so The National seems dull to you!
Incidentally Stu were you aware of the IPSO ruling (it was issued 03 May) when you set up the questions for the Panelbase poll?:
link to wingsoverscotland.com
Or was it just a glorious coincidence.
(Also it really has reached the “Leave it Stu, he’s not worth it!” stage with Leask. Funny though it is to watch).
(Also can we have some table for the polls soon, pretty please).
Poor man, pride does indeed come before a fall.
“if you’re too conceited or self-important, something will happen to make you look foolish”
Well the facts are there for all to see…but will Galileasko be forced to recant by the Heraldic authorities? I think we’ll be waiting until the end of the universe before Galileasko budges, as he sits there in a corner of his little hermit’s cell repeating maniacally over and over again “eppur non si muove…”
The mark of a truly professional journalist is to know when to leave something alone and let it go.
The mark of a puerile hack is not knowing when to just shut the fuck up.
Scotlands MSM proves everyday its powered by Hacks not journalists.
“A blogger unfamiliar with politics and the media has failed to twig…”
Loved that bit especially.
As Bugs Bunny would say, “What a maroon!”
Galileasko tweeted on 14th May:
Dear journalists, we have a choice. We can fight for reality-based journalism, trying to improve what we do in difficult times. Or we can surrender to a world where those who shout loudest wins.
Setting aside the lack of self-awareness and the irony of a 217-tweet “wings whinge” does this tweet imply, (dear journalists)
“Altogether now
THE CRY WAS NO SURRENDER…”
A great example of Leask’s “fact checking”….but it is OK because when we are caught misleading the public after a long fight to evade a guilty finding we will apologise!
…such high standards they set others…a pity arrogance blinds them to their own shortcomings.
Finally, in trying to write reality-based journalism quickly, it came out incorrectly as “realty-based journalism”, but is that perhaps closer to the truth?
The great EB White stated
“Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form an opinion without the facts”
Mr Leask, your prejudice is showing.
If this was a boxing match Leask’s corner would have thrown in the towel by now as he’s been pounded in every round so far.
How sad and how pathetic is this man who claims to be a ‘real’ journalist.
The rule should be that the correction is on the same page as the original story and in a font that draws attention to the correction. I am sure that Mr Leask would agree that this would be fair.
jfngw
We need a Sunday National
“Downfall” youtube skits are done to death – but we need just one more –
“Hitler reacts to Press watchdogs upholding of WingS complaint”
I think someone should start “Wrath of Khan” memes on this
Leask/Khan : I AM THE SUPERIOR INTELLECT – I AM THE PROFESSIONAL JOURNALIST
and
FROM Herald’s Hearth(HELL’S HEART) I STAB AT THEE!
This was never a contest, more like a “dragging” in the Deep South – or a “match” between a seal and an Orca.
I think that when anyone asks about the standard of Scottish newspaper reporters then oor wee mate Davy boy and his pointless witterings should be the first port of call.
Back in 1969 there was a famous saying created by an American, some peeps here may have heard of him 😉 , Neil Armstorng. I’d like to borrow his famous quote and play around with it a wee bit if folks don’t mind. 🙂
The ego has landed! 😀
HandandShrimp says:
18 May, 2018 at 12:01 pm
The rule should be that the correction is on the same page as the original story and in a font that draws attention to the correction. I am sure that Mr Leask would agree that this would be fair.
Prepare yourself for the smallest font size ever seen on a front page. 🙂
If he’s SO obsessively fascinated with Wings, maybe they’ll lead with a ‘story’ about Wings Over Scotland on their front page come Sunday.
They could even combine the story with a correction and an apology.
Wings WINS.
Comrades, the Wings apology has been concealed in the microdot full stop. It is the HGB way.
They do say that comedy is all in the timing.
This is what you call impeccable timing.
Leask’s credibility is in tatters, and only compounded by his attempts at covering up what he said. It’s called taking responsibility, you know that thing we all want over the decisions taken for our country and peoples.
Just an “error in the editing process” though, surely…
I agree with others that The Herald has become completely unionist. The mysterious Pinstripe is probably the editor as it is always anti SNP / independence.
I’m a hyperparmesan ilk.
Yeah baby, yeah!!
Can we get tee shirts printed?
“Come on Campbell, you still game? I’ll finish you off!”
Erm, Sir Leask, he has already chopped off your arms and legs.
“Nonsense, it’s only a scratch!”. 🙂
Ohh, that’s going to leave a mark.
Can anyone find the full context of John Mason’s comments about the disabled Celtic fan from Newcastle. John advised that he has been taken out of context saying:” He should support a local team”. due to parking restrictions.
Usual press condemning comments without showing the full conversation.
So, has the Chief Reporter published an apology to WoS or to Herald readers (I presume there must be some…)?
Och, he’ll probably apologise on here, won’t he? Aye, right..
@ Arbroath1320, 12:23pm
Mair like, “the eagle has crash landed”. He must feel sair…
Is the Herald facts spotting training of the same quality as Labour and Tory diversity training?
Once again the Rev and WOS show up the disgraceful inaccuracies of the Britnat media. WOS and other pro-indy sites are the best way for people in Scotland to find out the truth about Scotland.
We’ll need ah crowdfunder fur sick bags fur the Rev , he must be heartily sick of knocking these so called hacks doon .
Great article and shows just how ‘misleading’ the daily rags are. It’s serious though, because this kind of outright twisting of the truth is politically motivated, designed to diminish our democracy by implanting false information into peoples’ minds.
The correction should be front page and the same size as the false story anything else stinks to high heaven of propaganda.
The whole sorry state of the Britnat media is a scourge on democracy.
The likes of Leask are a wee bit miffed that the Britnat media don’t control all of the narrative though, as they once did.
Tough, treating people like idiots is unacceptable. Scotland is a forward looking, civilised country, and people are coming to live in Scotland from England to escape the disintegration of democracy there.
Things change, the Britnat media in Scotland is still back in the dark ages, the people are not.
@Betty Boop
Good Idea, The Rev could offer a contributors piece to Mr Leask, to explain this seemingly contradiction between claim and fact. He’s always talking about the right to reply.
Of course it may just be another print error, maybe he is just trained to spot fax.
If I was Wilson and Horton Ltd* I would consider suing Mr Leask.
*owners of the NZ Herald, last I looked.
Now, now, Rev.
Stop dragging the corpse of Mr. Leask through the shrubs.
Dead Man Walking!
@Betty Boop
I’d say Mr Leask owes the readership of the site an apology too. Many readers here are ‘EX’ Herald readership. He may now wish to consider the possibility there was a very good reason why they stopped.
Out of curiousity, what is the procedure for newspapers in other countries when they have been forced to publish a correction for an incorrect article. Do they print corrections on the front page or are they tucked away inside the newspaper out of sight? Thanks.
It was clear from a Mr Leask tweet I read (I don’t actually have a twitter account but I can still read them) that he did not want anyone who was associated with Wings to interact with him. I headed his wishes and stopped purchasing all Herald publications.
But it is a strange strategy for a senior journalist to effectively say to potentially 45% from 2014 to get lost.
After another set back you would think you would start to feel sorry for him, but his apparent arrogance makes it impossible.
After only a few weeks since employment of a controversial figure the publications are in disarray, I think some predicted this.
And a free magnifying glass (but will cost you £5 as we increase the price for a one-off)with today’s edition.
Arse…well and truly skelped. Keep digging Leask…light relief from the real news which Wings and Wingers provide to hundreds of thousands in Scotland daily.
My ISP has a porn filter which keeps popping up when I visit WoS.
Suspect it may be to do with the number of times a prick appears in reports…
Apparently we are mistaken, from tweets I see the original story was not wrong and presumably they have been vindicated for printing the truth.
Oh hold on, the case was upheld, a clarification (correction in normal language) was to be printed and it was described as distorting the report contents by the watchdog.
Vindication MSM style.
We are all Lorna Dey
“The Herald denied a breach of the Code, although it accepted that, due to an editing error, one statistic had been misattributed in the article.”
ROFLMFAO…
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and anything published under the heading “Politics” by the MSM in Scotland; the ‘Useful Idiots’ of the British Establishment.
Thinking about Leasky, what does he think when he looks in the mirror? What goes through his head?
Perhaps this?
link to youtube.com
Never has the phrase “hoist with his own petard” been more appropriate than for Mr. Leask! The last 7 days has been an object lesson of condescension, patronisation, inaccuracy, and sheer superiority, and boy has it come back to bite! He hasn’t helped The Herald, The Sunday Herald or journalism at all, any more than Sunday’s Sunday Herald rant and Haggarty’s inappropriate handling of her serious error. Well done Rev!
There is a lesson to be learned here.
Ignore the statisticians advice and the statistics in a report at your peril.
I took Leask to task on twitter about the inaccuracy of the article and he replied with the bullshit claim about the country-specific press pack. I challenged him to publish the pack in order to substantiate his claim. Guess what? He blocked me. The man’s a tit.
What I don’t understand is why Leask kept trying to justify this via the internet. Surely the story had been published, read by the public, the damage done and those of us who follow these things on this interwebby thingy already knew it was pure nonsense.
I can only assume it was an attempt to massage a bruised ego.
Big Jock, @ 18 May 2018 at 1:07 pm
I’ve only just read your question, Jock, I hope this helps if you haven’t already found the answer.
Sarah Newey 6 hours Friday, May 18th, 2018
link to archive.is
Whit else kin ye dae when a guy’s furst name is Big?
😉
have to say stu, devastating demolision of comrade leaski
where’s left for him to go now?
link to youtube.com
DOES THIS GUY STILL WORK AT “HIS TRADE”
If so he did not get a very good APRENTICESHIP
You would wonder that those who employ Mr Leask aren’t thinking we have a plonker on our books.
That would typically and pobably be the case, but in this case he is saying exactly what they want regardless of whether its true or not!
No doubt Mr Leask is sitting doe eyed in front of the news wondering at the greatness of the windsors!
Does Leasky know that the New Zealand Herald has also been suffering credibility issues for quite a while now?
Leasky is like a wasp at a window.
A particularly stupid wasp.
Dont go for personal attacks, but in this case the guy is a complete arse.
What else can be said.
The focus is on delivery of the British Nationalist message regardless of truth.
The British Nationalists keep pushing nonsense and apart from very old fo!ks no one believes this stuff anymore.
The problem for the Herald and Leask is that it’s not just Indy posters are disgusted, it’s non-Indy ones too, or at least the sensible ones, and I know the posters and their viewpoints. That’s activists, so can’t tell what effect it has on the bog standard reader.
The Herald should have put it on page 1, about a quarter of two out of what looks like 6 columns – i.e. 1/12th page. That it didn’t shows a complete lack of grey brain cells. It used to be valued for its credibility, even if there was spin on articles. Now it hasn’t even got that.
Sad.
Will he resign?
Will he be sacked?
I told you i wasnt wrong ‘ although i was incorrect .though my correctness was incorrect. It was and always has been not fully correct whilst appearing correct that I am a total twat whilst appearing and sounding – not to mention looking like a total scrotum twat. So Mr internet smarty pants, i have proven you wrong and incorrect or i think or correct again . I stand to be incorrect or uncorreted _ BASTARD! That mans fucking disconnected. The chief reporter at the Beano has a better understanding of the newsprint.
Hes like a wasp in a jar Alan T ,that has its sting surgically removed by a doc martin though its arse on prime time in front of his audience and left himself mimicking the death throws of the soon deceased yoon squad.
Can’t this guy just say “aye, alright, you got me”, ” I was wrong”.
It’s just getting ridiculous now.
@Gary McIlkenny
Leask still hasn’t apologised on the thread he made a false accusation against me which, when I reported it, got deleted either by him or more likely, the mods. He was also wrong – the “facts” I provided came from the BBC website and were supported by official figures.
Article is called: “Kenny MacAskill: Scots are no different to the English in attitudes to race”
My favourite tweet is the “is it plausible…” one. Perhaps not but it’s what they did. Either shut the fuck up about it or man up and admit the Herald screwed up big time.
Had an argument with a guy in work who maintains the current queen has a Scottish bloodline. I said she doesn’t the last one was Queen Anne.
He said the Hannovers were connected through blood. They were but so odd it’s hard to prove. George the first was the 2nd cousin of Anne. So possibly a grandparents blood line. He was born in Germany! There were 50 claimants higher up than him but they barred Catholics so he was last choice as a protestant.
It just shows what nonsense the royals are. They have as much connection to Scotland as Brigadoon.
What is wrong with these people, why not just get behind their own country. They may even gain some more readers.
Annie….
Scotland is regarded by those having a Yoon mindset as just a region of their ‘country’. You can’t have a country within a country after all; only a region within a country or a country within a State.
It’s all about politics and perception.