King’s College Hospital, one of the hospitals treating Grenfell Tower fire victims in London, accused a Sun reporter of posing as a friend of a victim to sneak into the hospital for an interview.
The Sun denied the allegations, as iMediaEthics previously reported. Oddly this week, the Sun apologized to the hospital and the hospital dropped its complaint and allegation. iMediaEthics has written to both King’s College Hospital and the Sun to ask what really happened and if the apology was published anywhere.
King’s College Hospital told the Guardian that the Sun admitted its staff didn’t follow hospital standards for media when it went to the hospital. The hospital’s spokesperson is quoted as saying:
“Any attempt to infringe upon the privacy of our patients or interrupt the duties of our staff is wholly unacceptable and will be always challenged.
“They have apologised for the upset it caused and have agreed to follow established procedure in future. In light of the Sun’s apology, the trust has withdrawn its complaint to the Independent Press Standards Organisation.”
IPSO never received a complaint from King’s College Hospital, but did provide iMediaEthics the following statement: “We understand that King’s College Hospital and The Sun have resolved the issues that had been reported as possibly leading to a complaint to IPSO.”