British news outlet apologizes for 'Grand Theft Auto: Rothbury' report

by Griffin McElroy on Jul 24th 2010 7:00PM

A long, stupid story short: British newspaper The Daily Star recently ran a since-pulled article claiming Rockstar Games was working on a game titled Grand Theft Auto: Rothbury, based on the shooting rampage allegedly perpetrated by Raoul Moat earlier this month. The report was based on a shockingly tasteless and obviously Photoshopped box art for the non-existent title -- though the Star ran the report as cold, hard fact, even going so far as to get quotes from the still-grieving family members of the shooting victims.

Rockstar (and, assumedly, its fleet of superhuman lawyers) must have sent some stern words to the outlet, which ran a lengthy retraction (via Rock, Paper, Shotgun) earlier today. In addition to apologizing for the irresponsible report, the paper claims, "we have also agreed to pay them a substantial amount in damages which they are donating to charity." Well, at least something good came out of this situation, we guess.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Tags: daily-star, grand-theft-auto, legal, raoul-moat, rockstar-games, rothbury

Reader Comments (50)

http://cdn.pimpmyspace.org/media/pms/c/awfrg/vio-nu9gm.jpg

"The Daily Star"
Well there you go then, what did you expect from them?

@lSpam
The Star, like the Sun, is a paper for those who cant read, and written by those who can't write.

@Alex R The Star is to the Sun, what The Sun is to say, the Guardian or the Times. It is a truly awful "news"paper.

The pictures sums up my feelings.

British news/media is terrible..

@Helghast102

No, it really isn't. This is a terrible example of the sort of weak reporting you can find anywhere, but British journalists have always been global frontrunners. Joystiq's coverage of these controversies (which is fine) really doesn't present a full picture of British media.

@Helghast102 I'll take the British Medea over US "Media" any day of the week.

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze Goddamn, that first one should be Media as well.

I went to public school, go easy on me.

@Helghast102

It's not so bad, it's just that only the unbelievably stupid tabloid headlines appear elsewhere. It's a couple of decades out of date but I still keep using this clip to sum up the British press to people online, particularly about a minute in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGscoaUWW2M

Nearly all major news outlets are a joke in my opinion, U.S., British, or otherwise. They are too influenced by personal politics and religious views among other things. So even if unintended (which I too often give them the benefit of the doubt), they can end up skewing something toward their liking. The problem is that this type of news attracts the mainstream population because people want to hear what they like, and they often take no notice of weather it's true or completely accurate. This is an issue very common in the U.S. I can't say how bad it is other places, but from what I have seen I can say it's at least a noticeable issue.

@Helghast102

Im British, im saying its shit because I have experience with it, every story is overblown here, and then you get ridiculous shit like this.
Im not comparing it to any other news outlets around the world, im just saying: it's shit.

@Deschain

Totally agree actually, what more can I say?

@Helghast102 Yes, oh how we wish we had a balanced and fair news channel like Fox News over here. We have to make do with the all that "facts" shit the BBC pumps out.

@Sally

Saying that the British media is better than American outlets is like saying that you're better at soccer than someone with no legs. It's not something to brag about.

These stories are becoming more and more common as the death of conventional print journalism begins. Now half of these online sites simply cite Twitter or facebook as the sole source for their information: and this is what you get.

@Helghast102

I mean that at everyone. just a general statement.

@Helghast102 - As a kid that was weened on the BBC news, I can tell you that the BBC in particular puts our own news coverage to shame. While CNN is talking about Lindsay Lohan, and Fox News is talking about liberals being socialists/nazi's/whatever, the beeb is talking about some war you wouldn't even know was freaking happening by listening to our news casts. It's absolutely shameful, but it's the truth.

Obviously they have tabloid rags just like we do, but those aren't indicative of the overall quality of British journalism.

@BananaBoat While the BBC is far from perfect, it's far and away the lesser evil. With the BBC you get facts on a subject, not the opinions of some left or right wing wanker. That is if the subject is of interest to that tosser. Americans live a bubble, paying little attention to the outside world, that's why they are genially shocked to find out that everybody hates them!

Thankfully the new generations have the internet to supply them with some more balanced bullshit.

wow....just wow.. heartless to say the least. Poor families. Why would anyone do such a thing? Just a cold heart maniac.

Also, Wow, paying them damages.

That's not even funny.

Rockstar's awesome; giving all that money to charity.

You forgot to mention that the writer of that horrible little story was spending his sweet time insulting adult gamers after people started attacking them for the story.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102270-Journalist-Who-Wrote-Fake-GTA-Story-Ridicules-Gamers

Please post that picture every time there is news like this. It makes me chuckle no matter how many times I see it.

@ResEvilGuy Same.

Or better yet, post the pic every time an Activision article comes up.

@Monkey D Luffy Everything about Fox News is all wrong. Go watch the documentary OutFoxed.

Media at its best

@Monkey D Luffy

1. It screwed over ME's sales? Really?

2. I don't think Bioware lightened the sex scenes because of Fox News.

Angela Cooper apologized anyways.

@Monkey D Luffy
Yeah, and I was looking forward to some good Miranda shots.

I hate it when I have to root for Rockstar, but yeah, they were definitely the victims in this mess.

the star just seems to have got even worse, before they were just trashy but now theyve joined the daily mail in a racist homophobic attempt to be the lowest of the low, outright lies are not unusual for these papers

the Britich media has become an even bigger joke than FOX News. And thats just plain sad.

@KinseySS

To be fair, a lot of the media outlets in the UK are of a high quality. Don't judge the news outlets here by this, or The Sun

The Daily Star represents the worst of british media, I remain appalled when I find out that some people actually pay to read that sort of "news" - if we can call them so - when you have such respectable newspapers and skilled reporters as the Guardian, the Independent, the Times, the Economist, and many others.

lock phasers on that paper and fire when ready.

The Star? Oh God. They run more bullshit then the Daily Sport, and they openly make their stories up!

I hate it when journalists interview victim's families and also I hate it when they do that and try and get the 'money shot' with the family bursting into tears. They shamelessly ask rhetorical questions to get the families/victims to cry.

http://web6.twitpic.com/img/135032001-b097f981bbb5cb14b13e99615842dd2e.4c4b9aa0-full.png

This is what happens when people just wanna demonize something. Since Video Games are still an open target for this kind of thing, nobody bothers to check their info and they just make bullshit up to stir some controversy on a slow news day.

Damn. That's a pretty astonishing fail/win for The Daily Star and Rockstar, respectively.

Glad to hear they're donating the settlement money to charity, too. They may be gluttons for controversy, but they're clearly not the monsters they're often made out to be.

It could have been worse and come from Fox news...

@Monkey D Luffy
No argument about fox news, they're an abomination, but....

They most definitely didn't hurt ME's sales.

The Star and other publications like it present the world exactly as the stupid and the conservative believe it is, that's the only way they could hope tog et away with crap like this. Nice come uppance for them, having to pay Rockstar money (which they gave to charity) and making the Star admit exactly how wrong it was and what its punishment entailed. Nice touches.

@Monkey D Luffy - If anything, the controversy aided Mass Effect's sales, and the idea that they could have retconned sexual content that late due to media reports is laughable anyway.

Apology or no apology, that type of reporting (letting a woman on who hasn't played the game, and letting her talk about sex scenes that don't exist in the form she's talking about) is a nice view into what is wrong with the 24/7 news cycle. These networks (fox news, cnn, etc) run on fumes all day long, reporting the same things over and over, and when someone comes along that promises to fill a few minutes by bashing an easy target (video games) they almost have no choice but to accept.

As a little bit of background for those of you who don't live in the UK, the Daily Star is at the absolute bottom wrung on the ladder of sewage-spewing tabloid rags. It is the worst newspaper by quite some distance in a sector overrun with unreadable shite that defy all common definitions of journalism.
Quite simply, it is not even worthy of wiping my arse on.

So, is anyone surprised they ran this story?

They really need to create a group that watches the media for stories that are completely one sided or just complete lies. If a story like this comes up its investigated. Turns out it was an honest mistake, the media has to say sorry for it. If it was on purpose they have to say sorry and pay a fine. Is it too much to ask to be able to watch the new or read a news paper and get the full story so you can make your own opinion instead of reading somone elses?

@Monkey D Luffy

It's news in general. Take the New York Times for instance. On average, that paper reports an urban legend as fact 73 times per year, with numerous repeats. The almost never apologize for faulty reporting, and when they do, it can take them decades to get around to it. Even when massive and obvious fabrication hits them, like the Jayson Blair fiasco, the paper instinctively goes into denial mode. Yet they still get this air of respectability.

Fox News gets it right as often as the BBC or CNN, which is rare. Every outlet tailors reports and invents news to satisfy the opinions of the viewers. The only reason you see Fox News as bad is they don't contort, twist, and lie to make you happy. You'd rather get your news from an organization that will lie and twist to fit your preconceptions to keep you thinking it's accurate and quality reporting.

Capt. Picard is a sexy beast.

The daily star is not a newspaper in any way shape or form, they even kind of admit it themselves tho.

When you click on the link to the apology there is a button at the bottom of the daily star page saying - more 'news' here.

Notice that news is in inverted commas :P

Unfortantly theres people commenting here showing why tabloids work. All of the poeple here going "oh look the british media is awful" are exactly the market these tabloids are aiming at, people who beleive everything at face value!

@Milky1985

Just found this site linked in the RPS comments -
http://tabloid-watch.blogspot.com/

funniest website ever :P

They liked the "made no attempt to check the accuracy of the story before publication" as well!

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British news outlet apologizes for 'Grand Theft Auto: Rothbury' report

Reader Comments (50)

Posted: Jul 24th 2010 7:04PM TheMichaelJackson said

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