The Daily Mirror has followed The Guardian and apologised to Dan Wootton for reporting on a police investigation against the former GB News presenter.
The title is one of a number of publications and individuals to receive a letter from Wootton’s lawyers after reporting in October that he was the subject of a police investigation.
Citing the Bloomberg versus ZXC Supreme Court judgment, Wootton has said reporting of the police investigation was a breach of his privacy.
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Press Gazette understands the Mirror publisher has made a five-figure payment to Wootton. The Guardian has also made a payment to Wootton.
The Mirror apology reads as follows: “An article headlined ‘Met Police launches probe into ‘Dan Wootton sex offences’ allegations’ was published on our website on 2 October 2023 and removed later that day following a complaint from Dan Wootton.
“Last week, the Metropolitan Police and Police Scotland said that they had concluded their investigations and are taking no further action.
“We accept that we were wrong to have published the article and apologise unreservedly to Mr Wootton for any upset the article may have caused.
“Mr Wootton has restated that the police inquiries have exonerated him of any criminal wrongdoing.”
Wootton is continuing to pursue his complaint against Byline Times, Newsquest-owned title The National and high-profile X (formerly Twitter) users Carol Vorderman, Emily Maitlis and Marina Purkiss.
Byline Times has given no indication that it plans to settle with Wootton. Byline Times co-founder and executive editor Peter Jukes told Press Gazette last week: “Byline Times will respond to Dan Wootton’s lawyer in due course. Meanwhile, we will always stand by public interest journalism.”
Earlier this week Wootton announced his departure from GB News after being suspended in September in response to Laurence Fox making sexist comments on his programme. Ofcom has now upheld complaints against GB News over the incident and found that Wootton’s “limited challenge” to Fox exacerbated the potential for offence.
Wootton has now launched his own media brand, Dan Wootton Outspoken, which will be a paid-for newsletter on Substack and a daily Youtube show.
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