The full
retraction and apology by the Spinoff, relating to
allegations that were totally false and defamatory,
contained in an article by Simon Wilson, and published on
the Spinoff website morning, is welcome.
The Spinoff has
accepted that the Taxpayers’ Union (including its
affiliate the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance) and
the three people named in the original article had no role
in the distribution of feathers. The Spinoff has apologised
for making the allegation and rewritten the article.
We
want to know how the Spinoff got this so wrong, and why they
didn’t even bother to approach us for comment before
publishing. Both organisations operate 24-hour phone lines
for media comment. We couldn’t be more available.
The
Spinoff is funded by Auckland Council through its “Heart
of the City” lobby group. We want to be satisfied that
the Spinoff was not acting pursuant to the Council’s
interest in distracting attention from the finalisation of
the Council’s
budget.
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