The fight against bad information doesn't stop once we publish a fact check. When prominent people get something wrong, we ensure they correct themselves to help prevent false and harmful claims from continuing to spread.
Last week, we told you that the Daily Mirror misreported that a health study found 82% of people prescribed statins or blood pressure pills were more likely to gain weight. In fact, the study concluded that the risk of becoming obese increased by 82% among those taking the medication.
The Daily Mirror has printed a correction note explaining its error.
We also highlighted several newspapers’ false claims that maps showing high levels of sulphur dioxide in the Wuhan region of China were evidence of mass cremations of coronavirus victims. They were simply forecasts – not real, observed data.
The Metro and Daily Mail changed their articles entirely to say that the images had been debunked, using quotes from Full Fact’s interview with a NASA scientist. The Express and the Sun deleted their articles, with the Express issuing a correction note explaining the error.
And the Guardian corrected its claim that the proportion of people with a job who live in poverty went up for the third consecutive year in 2018 to a record high. This was incorrect.
As Full Fact clarified, this figure has not increased, but what is a record high is the proportion of families in poverty with a job.
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