Bauer blames typo for Take 5 story claiming philandering police official committed crimes in NSW instead of UK
Bauer Media’s real life magazine Take 5 has been accused of misleading its readers after suggesting the story of a British “crooked copper” who used the police database to access information about women in order to sleep with them, actually occurred in Australia.
The magazine implies to readers the offences took place in NSW.
The German-owned publisher – which has been increasing the amount of syndicated international copy it uses – claims the change was a typographical error. Bauer claims that the location of “Redruth, Cornwall” was accidentally changed to “Redfern, NSW” because the names were similar.
Take5 said the victim was from NSW
The original story came from Lisa Andrew, 40, of Redruth in the rural county of Cornwall, who spoke to magazines and newspapers including The Sun after her husband, a Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) was found guilty of misconduct in a public office in a widely publicised case in the UK.
In the article the PCSO, a uniformed police support staffer , is said to be a police officer, but his name and age, Andrew Bunyan, 40, have not been changed. Whilst the body of the article does not specifically claim the case occurred in Australia, it does not specify to readers that it occurred overseas.
Journalism academic David McKnight told Mumbrella the article is “one of the most bizarre things I’ve seen in journalism” and likely to be part of a growing trend as Bauer Media Group syndicate smore content across its international titles.
McKnight told Mumbrella: “It just shows another example of the erosion of journalism based on facts into a kind of blurring into entertainment values. People think they can do this and it’s just extraordinary.
“I get the sense this is part of the spirit of the time because the core of journalism is being eroded through the disintegration of newspapers, so you get stuff like this, but they just shouldn’t do it. It’s misleading.
Take 5
“The trust between a publication and its readers is pretty important. People are not stupid, you can present something as a fictional story or you can present it as factual and there are different rules for different kinds of things and those sort of details shouldn’t be changed.”
Bauer Media Group, formerly ACP Magazines, has made moves to publish content from the UK as well as the US and other countries, Bauer has previously said in response to the appointment of a single editor to work across its Dolly and Cleo titles.
Editor-in-chief Paul Merrill, who took the helm of Bauer’s real life portfolio in May, did not respond to invitations to comment.
A Bauer spokeswoman said: “This piece originally appeared in the Daily Mail which is not a Bauer Media owned publication. It was bought via a syndication service directly from the newspaper which as you know is common practice across all publishing companies.
“It is not unusual for Take 5, from time to time, to run an overseas article with many receiving positive feedback from readers. Yes, the wrong address has been attributed to this article, as they are very similar. Unfortunately in this instance is attributed to human error.”
Earlier this month Bauer Media Group CEO Matthew Stanton told Mumbrella content would not be compromised as the publisher restructures and cuts editorial staff. Stanton also said Bauer was looking at different, non-traditional ways of producing content that would enhance the quality of magazines.
Take 5 has a circulation of around 174,000 and a target readership of women in the ‘heart of middle Australia’ according to the Bauer Media Group website. It has a cover price of $3.10.
NSW Police and the Police Association declined to respond directly to the article.
Megan Reynolds
“Bauer Media Group CEO Matthew Stanton told Mumbrella content would not be compromised as the publisher restructures and cuts editorial staff.”
That’s because there is nothing left in terms of content. Poor old Bauer – employing translators instead of journalists. Not a good time to be in the industry.
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Pretty ironic that a story covering a typographical error notes it as a ‘typographical area.’
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And not even an actual policeman either, a PCSO.
I notice that people post links on social these days to a variety of rubbish blogs with stories re-written from elsewhere with no fact checking which are often total crap.
Publishers like Bauer, Fairfax etc are supposed to be better than that.
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In what universe is Redruth, Cornwall “very similar” to Redfern, NSW?
This is clearly not a typo, but a bad decision and Bauer should admit to it as such.
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Wouldn’t it have been an idea to proof a story on typos – just to ensure you don’t make one yourself?
Or, was the “typographical area” in the email Ink deliberate?
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A typographical error in the text above but a “typographical area” in you email. Too funny!
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Baloney – they just got sprung after making up, rewriting and repurposing the original story (as they do with every story, every week). Am glad that the media (and celebrities) are starting to call these magazines to task for all their codswallop.
I have never been able to work out the value for advertisers in advertising in these publications – whose readership, let’s face it, is in the poorest, most uneducated bracket, and whose numbers are dropping rapidly.
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They’re syndicating smore content?
A spelling error in an article about a spelling error. Love the irony 🙂
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As Australia’s chief magazine producer, Bauer is its own worst PR disaster.
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“Bauer”. “Bullshitters”. Very similar.
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In my opinion, the location of “Redruth, Cornwall” was intentioally changed to “Redfern, NSW”, as to avoiding actual legal counter-measures taken by authorities, from the moment the Police’s somehow involved….
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Lazy. I used to see this all the time in US/UK/AU versions of Marie Claire. Same “original” story, but name, age, and location changed.
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We’ve been localising syndicated stories in Australian magazines for decades – it’s just poor judgment in this instance.
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If it was an innocent error, how come the place name is changed to Auckland on the same story in the New Zealand version of Take 5, called Lucky Break???? It is a deliberate decision to make it seem like it is genuine Australian or NZ content.
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I don’t believe the similarity bit for a minute.
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Caption: “Take5 said the victim was from NSW”
“Said” or “implied”?
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Nicolas’ comment basically ends this thread. It was intentionally changed, end of story.
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And in news just in…. some photos in tabloid magazines have been photoshopped!!!
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The pic of the police officer is not the nsw uniform.
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Anyone who works in magazines won’t be surprised by this revelation. It’s a small step up from the characters such as the (no photo) ‘Annie, 23, an office worker from Canberra…’ that litter the pages of Bauer’s glossier titles. But I feel for Take 5 on one level: can you imagine sitting at your desk and having to find all those ‘sensational’ stories of skullduggery to fill the pages every week? No wonder they’re looking for shortcuts.
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