Retraction

Last week I wrote about a story I believed represented IP that was stolen from the AFR.

Today I received an email from my former colleague at the centre of that story who was very disappointed about the post and asked me to remove it from my blog and apologise.

I've done just that. This is the first time I can recall deleting a post. You don't do it lightly, so take that as an indication of my sincerity.

And no, I’ve not received any other correspondence or been instructed in any way by my employer.

To explain, I honestly regret that what was meant to be a cheeky post has been perceived as an attack on his character. That was certainly not my intent. Blogs, like email, can be misinterpreted. As for how the post reflected on my character, well that's just something I'll have to wear. We all make bad judgement calls, and since this is a personal blog, I'll stand up and say that was one of mine.

I’d like to make it very clear that I think Ben is one of the most talented IT journos in the country.

I heaped high praise on him during a speech to staff when he left. Despite what you might otherwise think now, I meant every word of it and have not changed my opinion.

My only option in a case like this is to set the record straight and fix the mess because I value relationships far more than competitive jousting.

Comments

[Tom Reynolds]

y-ouch!

I think your original post was reasonable, but then I also thought it was perhaps not necessary. Whenever we change jobs, we always take our medium and long term ideas with us (along with ideas shelved by a current employer)- so things like NDA's are really weirdly restrictive.

That said, kudos for apology and retraction. Though deleting posts is icky weird. An amended (original) post with a retraction should suffice...?

cheers
Tom

[Jork]

Dig up, stupid!

[Mark Aufflick]

Ow that hurts. Knowing you somewhat more than the average blog reader, I figured that your original post was tongue in cheek. I guess not all internet users would have assumed that though.

If you're serious about obliterating a post from existance, don't forget to think about Google cache and web.archive.org.

[Tesh Roberts]

Bloggers of the world unite, eh?

Mr Reynolds, you are clearly unfamiliar with the law of defamation. I suspect MJ's apology and retraction was motivated by the threat of a law suit, so you may want to revise such kudos.

Mr Aufflick, I think the defamed, as MJ's former colleague, would know him well enough to figure it was NOT done tongue in cheek.

I suspect the motivation for MJ’s defamatory actions was revenge. Seems like someone had his feelings hurt when the defamed moved to greener pastures. Aw.

In any case, tongue in cheek or not, it is still defamatory. I suggest if you want to be serious journalists you should bother to learn the law. But then, if you wanted to be serious journalists you wouldn't be bloggers.