Sun rapped for Collymore 'confession'
The Press Complaints Commission has condemned the Sun for faking and printing a front-page confession by footballer Stan Collymore in which he appeared to admit that he was a liar.
The watchdog said the tabloid newspaper, edited by Rebekah Wade, committed a "serious" breach of its code when it failed to make it explicit enough that Collymore had not in fact signed any confession and the article was a piece of fiction.
The splash story appeared in November and claimed the former England player had admitted he was a "lying scumbag" and included a printed confession to "all Sun readers" apparently signed by the star.
But it was only in the fifth paragraph of the story that the paper revealed that Collymore was tricked into signing the confession at a book signing.
In its ruling, the PCC described the story as a "serious" breach of its code of practice, and said the Sun had not been honest enough with readers about how it had obtained the so-called confession.
The story, which was printed on November 3, appeared in the Sun at the same time that the footballer's autobiography was being serialised in the Daily Mirror.
The Sun's "confession" had Collymore admitting that he "threw the first punch" in a fracas with six Bath rugby union players at a nightclub in Dublin the previous weekend, and apologising to readers for "wasting all that football talent throughout my unfulfilled career".
But the paper admitted it had tricked Collymore into signing the document at a book signing in Newcastle. It had handed him what appeared to be a blank piece of paper for an autograph.
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"Knowing he would never sign the confession willingly, we got Sun girl Michelle Dickie, 19, to hand it to him at a book signing session at a WH Smith branch in Newcastle," it said.
"Collymore thought he was giving a fan an autograph and signed the piece of paper with 'best wishes' - not realising the confession was on the other side."
The player complained to the PCC through his lawyers, David Price, that the story breached clause one of the commission's code of practice, which deals with accuracy, and clause 10, which forbids newspapers from using subterfuge to get a story unless it is in the public interest.
Section one of the code says the press "must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information. The press... must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact."
Clause 10, on clandestine devices and subterfuge, says "engaging in misrepresentation or subterfuge can generally be justified only in the public interest and then only when the material cannot be obtained by other means."
The commission said it was a serious breach of its code, and said the Sun had not take sufficient care to highlight the way it had been obtained. The Sun declined to comment.
Collymore, who lost his job as a Radio Five Live pundit earlier this year after he admitted "dogging" - looking for sex with strangers in car parks - is rarely out of the tabloid headlines for long. He made his reality TV debut in the autumn as a contestant on Five's The Farm.
The PCC refused to comment until the adjudication has been officially released and published in the Sun.
Sun