Daily Trust has apologised over its report on the Samoa Agreement published in July.
The newspaper on July 4, 2024, published a front-page news item titled “LGBT: Nigeria signs $150 Billion Samoa Deal,” in which it reported that the FG has endorsed a European Union partnership agreement (referred to as the Samoa Agreement with member-states of the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and the Pacific States.
The Federal Government, while describing the report as misleading, lodged a formal complaint with the National Media Complaints Commission(NMCC), an independent Ombudsman.
The Commission, after weeks of investigation, stated that the newspaper report was not only inaccurate but violated the Code of Ethics for Nigerian Journalists.
The NMCC’s recommendations include a directive for Daily Trust to publicly apologise for its false report and implement measures to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
Daily Trust in an editor’s note on Wednesday, apologised to the Federal Government for any inconveniences the story might have caused to it.
“We accept the verdict of the NMCC without any equivocation. We apologise to the Federal Government for any inconvenience the story might have caused to it. We also apologise to our readers and the public for getting the story wrong in the first place.
“Our internal editorial mechanisms for reporting, editing, and approving news stories for publication are robust and have served us well for more than a quarter-century. However, following this, we have taken more steps, to improve these mechanisms and enhance their effectiveness”.
It also stated that it has taken steps to improve its editorial mechanism and ensure that the mistake does not happen again.