The Telegraph has withdrawn a story about a rich banker hit by the cost of school fee increases after being deceived by a source.
The article has been widely discussed on social media and many have stated that it was generated by AI.This was also asserted by presenter Richard Osman on the latest Rest Is Entertainment podcast.
The article was, in fact, written by a real journalist, based on a real telephone interview with a man who appears to have deceived the reporter and given them a fake name.
The piece was headlined: “We earn £345k, but soaring private school fees mean we can’t go on five holidays.”
It told the story of investment banker Al Moy, 38, and wife Alexandra who have a joint salary of £345,000 with two children at fee-paying schools. The pair were also said to have a daughter, called Ali, a son called Harry and a two-year-old called Barry.
It recounts how the couple have had to switch from Waitrose to Sainsburys, cut the gardener back to once a month and are taking less long-haul foreign holidays in order to make ends meet after the addition of VAT to school fees.
Journalist Ian Fraser first flagged up concerns about the piece on Bluesky noting that it was illustrated with stock images which were taken 13 years ago. He could also find no trace of bankers called Al and Alexandra Moy anywhere online except in the Daily Telegraph piece.
Press Gazette understands the case study was set up by a PR working for financial planning firm Saltus.
The story references Saltus research which estimates the average lifetime cost of schools fees. It also included a link to the Saltus Wealth Index.
Press Gazette understands that the author of the piece, an experienced and well-respected freelance journalist, was commissioned by the Money section of the Telegraph to conduct the interview and was not involved in the selection of images.
The piece, which was published on 25 May, was available via a syndicated version on MSN.com until yesterday when that version was also withdrawn.
A spokesperson for Telegraph Media Group said: “On 25th May, we published an article in our Money section based on a case study. After publication it became clear that during his conversations and other communications with us the case study had provided us with false information. We unpublished the article and started a thorough investigation.
“We take the quality and integrity of our journalism very seriously but it is clear that our internal processes were not strong enough on this story and we are taking steps to ensure this does not happen again.”
Press Gazette recently published in an investigation into fake experts being widely quoted in national media as result of unscrupulous PRs inventing them and sending out responses via journalist request services. They include Barbara Santini, one of the most widely quoted psychologists in the UK, who Press Gazette was able to prove does not exist.
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