UK Tabloid Pays 'Substantial Sum' To Take2 After Totally Made Up Story About Grand Theft Auto

from the but-is-that-a-good-thing? dept

One thing I've never quite understood about the UK: it has some of the most ridiculous libel laws around, that are notoriously plaintiff-friendly... and yet, its tabloids are well known for simply making stories up completely. I'm a bit confused about how those two things co-exist, but it appears to be the case. Perhaps, the answer is just that the tabloids famous for making stuff up have a decent budget set aside to pay the famed "substantial sum," any time anyone complains about a story (we once were threatened with a UK libel suit, and the solicitors mentioned "substantial sum" so many times in the letter that it felt like a code word that meant something else).

A few months ago, we wrote about how a journalist at the Daily Star apparently totally made up a story claiming that Take2 Interactive was going to create a new version of the videogame Grand Theft Auto, based on the headline-hogging story in the UK of Raoul Moat, the guy who shot three people and himself, including his ex-girlfriend, her new boyfriend and a policeman (the new boyfriend and Moat himself died). The journalist seemed to base the story on Photoshopped images that some random person had made online of such a game, which was obviously a joke. He never checked with anyone involved at Take2 or Rockstar... but did check with the grandmother of Moat's ex-girlfriend, telling her (falsely) that such a game was being created and getting her reaction. What was even more ridiculous, was that when called on it, the reporter, Jerry Lawton, went on Facebook, and started insulting everyone who pointed out that the story was clearly bogus. It took a while, but The Daily Star finally pulled the story down, and admitted "We made no attempt to check the accuracy of the story before publication..."

Apparently, after all this happened, Take2 sued for libel, and so The Daily Star has now coughed up "a substantial sum" to the company to make amends (thanks to cc for the heads up). As ridiculous as the original story was, I'm not sure Take2 really deserves "a substantial sum" for it. Most people who would actually buy a version of GTA knew that the story was false, but that's what you get with UK libel laws, I guess. As another report on this story points out: "It should be noted that the Star, owned by Richard Desmond, has a history of publishing false stories and carrying apologies afterwards." So perhaps my original inclination was correct.

Filed Under: daily star, defamation, grand theft auto, raoul moat
Companies: rockstar, take 2

Journalist Totally Makes Up Story About GTA Based On Murderer, Then Attacks Video Gamers Who Called Him On It

from the professional-journalism dept

We've discussed a few times the various claims that many UK "news" publications have a history of totally fabricating stories. This seems odd, given the ridiculous libel laws in the UK, which you would think would keep that sort of thing to a minimum -- and yet we seem to hear similar stories quite frequently. The latest, sent in by EnJaySee, notes that the Daily Star (which is not a particularly well-respected paper) was caught totally making up a story pretending that the makers of Grand Theft Auto were working on a new version of the game, GTA Rothbury, based on Raoul Moat, the guy who killed shot his ex-girlfriend, her new boyfriend, a police officer and (eventually) himself -- successfully killing himself and the new boyfriend. The reporter, one Jerry Lawton, even went and asked the grandmother of Moat's ex-girlfriend what she thought of the game, and needless to say, she thought it was terrible. But there is no such game. There was a Photoshopped image, which appeared to be the basis of the story, but no one's quite sure where that came from.

Even worse, after various video gaming publications called out The Daily Star for such a bogus story, the paper deleted the article from its website with no explanation or correction or anything. It just pretended it never happened. Update: As pointed out in the comments, the Daily Star did eventually publish a full retraction and apology, only after this story started getting attention. But the "reporter," Jerry Lawton, apparently took to his Facebook page to lash out at those who caught his made up story and then mocked video game players:

"Baffled by the fury of adult gamers," he wrote. "These are grown (?!?) men who sit around all day playing computer games with one another who've today chosen to enter the real world just long enough to complain about my story slamming a Raoul Moat version of Grand Theft Auto! You would think I'd denied the Holocaust!!! Think I'll challenge them to a virtual reality duel....stab....I win!!!"

As Destructoid noted, Lawton seems to have selective understanding of the situation:

Nice to see that Lawton conveniently left out the bit where he used a poorly doctored image that any idiot could have ascertained was fake, the bit where he used a 69-year-old grieving grandmother for his own ends, and the bit where he cobbled together a shitty little article full of lies that got taken down because it was a load of crap. Hilarious that he references the "real world" when his article was based in total fantasy to begin with. Maybe Lawton's the one who needs to step away from his computer and face reality.

Filed Under: grand theft auto, jerry lawton, made up, raoul moat, reporting, uk