Apology in Sunday Times re Neil Francis article

cheese sandwich

The Irish edition of the Sunday Times has today published an abject apology for an article by Neil Francis published last week. The article dealt with Francis’ days as a student in Blackrock College and in particular two former classmates of his.

It turns out that what Francis said about one of those classmates was wildly incorrect.

I read the article last week and I found it uncomfortable as it was far from clear whether Francis had informed the families of the classmates that they would be written about in such sensitive detail. I think, given what we now know, it is safe to assume that the families were not notified, and what is more, the family of Mr Andreucetti had to read horribly incorrect ‘facts’ about his life and death. How can the editor of the ST justify remaining in her position after this appalling mistake?

cheese sandwich

Neil Francis ‘no longer working’ at Sunday Times after factually incorrect article

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2023/05/05/neil-francis-no-longer-working-at-sunday-times-after-factually-incorrect-article/

A bit surprising this is happening now

durthacht

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120560147#Comment_120560147

Neil Francis is a disgrace.

Hangdogroad

Has a face youd never tire of punching.

cheese sandwich

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120561890#Comment_120561890

I didn’t really feel very sorry for Myers at the time because I felt that he had made a career out of attacking people he disagreed with so it was inevitable that eventually it would come back to haunt him.

But in retrospect it’s clear he was harshly treated for what was an ill judged but not racist article. The Guardian published an outrageously anti-Semitic cartoon last week that would genuinely not have been out of place in Der Sturmer, and yet nobody has lost their job over that.

It seems that often it is who is saying something, and not what they are saying, that really matters

L1011

There is *another* apology in the ST today for further inaccuracies identified in the same piece