2.2.09

London Lite says sorry to Walliams for faking it with Peta Todd



Freesheet London Lite was today forced to run an apology to Little Britain star David Walliams after it faked a picture that made it seem he was together with the Sun's page 3 model, Peta Todd. The picture that appeared with a piece suggesting "Walliams swaps his page 3 playmate" in October last year was in fact a montage.

There have been numerous cases in recent years where newspapers and magazines have been sued over mock-ed up or montaged photos used to stand up a story. Where a montage is used it should be labelled as such - but that would spoil some of the fun! One way round is to insert a rip or thin line instead of an actual label.

Having recently won a libel payout together with Matt Lucs, Walliams had opted to pursue this claim out of court and through the Press Complaints Commission. To what extent an apology on page 8 of today's London Lite counts or is sufficient is up for debate. If papers were forced to print their apologies on the front page then that might seem fairer - but the PCC can't force them to do that and so has to ask nicely and broker a compromise.

So who has David Walliams been out and about with:
He likes the models - was there nookie with Cookie?
Or was it lingerie shopping with Lisa that tickled his fancy?

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