CNN HAS apologised for printing a story on its website that incorrectly accused The Irish Timesof printing faked naked photographs of Tiger Woods's wife Elin Nordegren.
The US broadcaster, which published the story under the headline "Five things you didn't know about Elin Nordegren", alleged The Irish Timespaid damages to the couple as a result of photographs published when the Ryder Cup was held in Ireland.
"In 2006, The Irish Timesrepeated the claims that the nude pics were of Nordegren. An enraged Woods and Nordegren replied with a lawsuit – and won $183,250 and an apology," said the CNN website in a news story syndicated from Peoplemagazine.
The article was also published on Peoplemagazine's website, www.people.com, where at one time yesterday it was listed as the second most read item on the site.
In fact, Dublinermagazine printed the fake photographs in its September 2006 edition, prompting Ms Nordegren to take a High Court libel case. The magazine later paid €125,000 damages to Ms Nordegren and issued an apology stating that the article and accompanying photographs it published were a "cheap vulgar lie".
The nude photographs printed by Dublinermagazine, which were claimed to be of Ms Nordegren, actually depicted a Playboy model. The magazine later claimed the article was satirical.
"This was a mistake which was corrected as soon as we became aware of it. We apologise for the confusion," said a CNN spokesman, who said the story was sourced through its partnership deal with Peoplemagazine. CNN and Peoplemagazine are both part of Time Warner group, the US media conglomerate.
Patrick Rogers, executive news director for www.people.com, said it had corrected its story, removed mention of The Irish Times, and would investigate what happened.
There has been phenomenal media interest in golfer Tiger Woods’s marriage to Elin Nordegren – a former Swedish model – since he crashed his car outside his home last week.
Two days ago on his website, Woods admitted to “transgressions”, but pleaded for privacy.
An Irish Timesspokesman said the paper had no comment on the matter.