ICIJ quashes "apology" rumours, credits The News as valued partner

ISLAMABAD: The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has credited The News as its valued media partner and cleared the confusion engineered by rival media groups after the publication of a story about the removal of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s name from the Panama Papers.

About the prime minister, the “ICIJ clarified that his name appeared only in connection to his children, who have offshore holdings,” reads a tweet simultaneously run from the twitter handles of ICIJ and its director Gerard Ryle.

While the prime minister’s name figured as the father of the children owning offshore companies, an editing error in the ICIJ story implied that he directly owns these companies. A story by Ahmed Noorani of The News regarding this correction of the editing error generated a lot of controversy as rival media groups tried to give it a spin in order to defame the Jang Group, an effort that has failed after the ICIJ statement.

In the following tweet, this international organisation has acknowledged that its partnership with The News in the Panama Papers was highly rewarding as its reporter, Umar Cheema, played a significant role in this investigative project. “ICIJ greatly values its Pakistani media partner The News and reporter Umar Cheema who made invaluable contributions to our investigation,” reads a note released from the official twitter account of the ICIJ.

This global organisation has further explained that the confusion about the speculated apology has also been cleared. Ahmed Noorani had mentioned a letter of a PML-N MNA seeking an ICIJ apology on the mentioning of the name of Nawaz in the Panama Leaks. It was widely misinterpreted by rival media groups as if the ICIJ had tendered an apology and the same was conveyed to this organisation.

It was in this context, the latest statement reads: “The “apology” misunderstanding has been cleared. ICIJ did not issue an apology nor did The News report as such. We stand by our reporting.”