In the February edition of Press Gazette magazine, we stated on pages five and 62/63 that Rosie Nixon, editor of HELLO! told the Leveson Inquiry the title was “happy for celebrities to have prior approval over the majority of content in her title”.
We now understand that this is incorrect and gave a false picture of the procedure at HELLO!
Ms Nixon told Leveson that she estimates that 70 per cent of HELLO!’s content is “pre-agreed”. To clarify that statement she has since told Press Gazette that means “arranged photoshoots and interviews”, but that this does not mean all this content is “copy approved” by subjects.
Ms Nixon has pointed out that she told Lord Leveson, on the subject of offering celebrities approval of their interviews: “As a general rule we don’t, although we do understand that at times the personality is keen to see the copy for checking accuracy purposes. So if pushed, sometimes we do.”
She said in a statement: “At HELLO! we are dedicated to always presenting the truth, and we are proud and protective of our co-operative, trusting relationship with our subjects – but this does not mean offering copy approval routinely.”
We apologise for giving a misleading impression about the policy on copy approval at HELLO! magazine and are happy to set the record straight.
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