Tuesday 4 June 2013

AP admits its mistake in Shane Todd article

American news agency Associated Press (AP) has admitted its mistake in a story last week on the death of American researcher Shane Todd, saying it was “erroneously reported”.

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Guanyu said...

AP admits its mistake in Shane Todd article

By Lim Yan Liang
04 June 2013

American news agency Associated Press (AP) has admitted its mistake in a story last week on the death of American researcher Shane Todd, saying it was “erroneously reported”.

Its statement on Sunday followed a letter Singapore’s Ambassador to the United States had sent to the news agency, in which he said the story was “inaccurate, misleading and mischievous”.

Ambassador Ashok Kumar Mirpuri had also sent the letter to some American news outlets like the Washington Post and CBS News, that carried the AP story.

The report last Monday said Singapore’s police had admitted flouting protocol in their handling of Dr Todd’s death.

In that story, headlined “Singapore police say protocols flouted in US death”, the AP reported that police had admitted during the 10-day coroner’s inquiry into the researcher’s death to deviating from official protocols by not collecting DNA samples and prints from Dr Todd’s Chinatown apartment, where he was found hanged last June.

But on Sunday, the agency, in acknowledging the inaccuracy, said in a statement:

“The Associated Press erroneously reported that police admitted violating or flouting official protocol in their investigation by not seeking fingerprints or DNA samples, and by examining the contents of a laptop computer in the dead man’s apartment.

“Rather than admitting to any incorrect behaviour in testimony, a police investigator simply recounted his actions, which he described as permissible under the guidelines.”

It added: “Police deny that any protocol was violated or flouted while looking into the cause of death.”

Ambassador Ashok, in his letter, noted that investigations officer Muhammad Khaldun Sarif never said he violated any protocols. Police protocols were “operational” guidelines letting investigators exercise discretion at the scene, he said, reiterating what Sergeant Khaldun said under oath.

The coroner is expected to deliver his verdict on Dr Todd’s death on July 8.