The Daily Mail is facing the music over an erroneous article that incorrectly claimed that Amanda Knox's murder conviction was upheld in October.
Knox, an American student, had been found not guilty of murdering her roommate after spending four years in an Italian jail. The Daily Mail, however, had published a pre-written article claiming that Knox lost the appeal. The Guardian reported that the article was live online for 90 seconds before it was replaced with an accurate account of events. But British blogger Malcolm Coles caught the huge error.
On Tuesday, the British Press Complaints Commission upheld a complaint against the Daily Mail for the article. It took issue with the factual inaccuracy of the piece, as well as fictitious content. The article contained quotes from prosecutors, and descriptions of her family members, reacting to a guilty verdict. It also claimed that Knox would return to prison where she would be on "suicide watch."
The huge error prompted the paper to apologize to its readers, and change its policies on pre-written stories. Nonetheless, the PCC has determined that the paper violated the code of practice regulating British magazines and newspapers. The Daily Mail will print the complaint against it online.