South Leeds Life has been caught in the crackdown on fake news and criticised by the press regulator, charged with repeated incidents of publishing false news stories.
The dossier from press regulator Ipcress cites ten reports covering issues such as tree felling in parks, changes to postcodes, new road schemes and geo thermal heating.
In her report, Complaints Officer Paige Turner criticises South Leeds Life’s editorial control stating:
“The publication has a laudable aim of encouraging local residents to write for it, but the Editor must take a firmer grip and double check stated facts and quotes.”
In a statement, Ipcress’ Chief Executive, Mark Miwords, said:
“The world has changed. The big tech companies now have a supportive US government. Facebook is getting rid of fact checkers, Jeff Bezos has hollowed out The Washington Post. That means in Britain we must double down on accuracy.
“South Leeds Life might have a much smaller circulation that the nationals, but that’s no excuse for sloppy journalism.”
South Leeds Life’s Editor, Jeremy Morton, said:
“We have always tried to hold ourselves to the highest standards. We do not publish every rumour that appears on local Facebook groups. We do our best, with limited resources, to fact-check everything.
“South Leeds Life will, of course, co-operate fully with our regulator to correct any misinformation and we apologise for any errors in our reporting.
“Looking through the Ipcress file at the articles that have been criticised, the only thing that links them is that they were all published on the same day of the year.”
You can find a full list of the articles facing criticism here (please note some photos have been redacted):
Exclusive: South Leeds set for postcode upheaval
Beeston power station will provide free heating
Leeds schools set for metric mayhem
Mysterious roadside in Millshaw
Council elections chief calls time on democracy in South Leeds
Middleton and Belle Isle to become guinea pigs for driverless cars scheme
Beeston residents told to use park and ride on matchdays
New road for Cross Flatts Park
Chile calls for redesign of South Leeds Stadium
UPDATE: In case your still worried about this story, please check the date at the top of the page (and the dates of all the articles mentioned). We hope you enjoyed our little joke.
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Oh my god, I have lived in beeston all my life
and always had a suspicion of something not quite right. It’s noticeable on Old Lane, the pavement always feels warmer, and the snow always thaws quicker outside the Asda.
Hope this brings the bills down !!!
Okay, you got me