Weekly News

Lord McAlpine receives total of £310,000 in defamation damages from BBC and ITV. He intends to give the money to charity. Both broadcasters have 'apologised unreservedly' for the mistake. His lawyers confirmed that the agreements involved the payment of £185,000 damages by the BBC and £125,000 from ITV, together with very substantial costs. Lord McAlpine is also said to be in 'negotiations' with Sally Bercow, the wife of Commons Speaker John Bercow, after she allegedly sent a tweet linking him with the Welsh care home scandal.  He has asked for £50,000 in libel damages and an apology. Up to 10,000 Twitter users are thought to have tweeted about the former Tory Party treasurer’s alleged – but subsequently disproved – involvement in child abuse. In total the peer’s lawyers have identified 1,000 ‘original’ tweets and a further 9,000 retweets. They must apologise and agree to pay a nominal sum as requested to Children in Need, believed to be £5. ‘The item did not name Lord McAlpine, but the programme-makers intended him to be the target of the allegations,’ Sir Edward Garnier QC, the Conservative MP and former Solicitor General, said. He added ‘throughout the day on November 2, Newsnight's forthcoming report had been widely trailed on the internet.’

My Opinion
The BBC were too haste in their decision to present the fact Lord McAlpine was a target of child sex abuse allegations. The BBC is a large organisation and has a large number of viewers who trust the BBC and this may cause people to change their opinion on large and trusted organisations like the BBC and ITV. It also shows that news on social networking sites is not always true and cannot be trusted, in this case twitter.