Journalist apologises for the fake 10 babies story
Pretoria News editor Piet Rampedi finally has came out in hiding with the fake decuplets story and has since written an apology to Independent Media group editor-in-chief Aneez Salie, saying that he could have handled the story better and that he should have used an investigative checklist.
“Be that as it may, I am sorry for the reputational damage the aftermath of the story has caused for the group, the company and my colleagues in general. I am fully aware that the story, and the general response, put all my colleagues in an awkward position, and under immense public pressure,” Rampedi said in the email.
Rampedi alluded that he despite failing to verify the aspects of the story, he maintained that the woman had been pregnant and gave birth.
“Even though I stand by the fact that Sithole was pregnant, some aspects of the story could have been dealt with differently. Could I have handled the story far much better? Definitely! Especially the verification process. Quite honestly, I never treated the decuplets story as an investigation at all. I used no investigative tool or checklist,” Rampedi’s email read.
“I trusted the sources, because I got to know them over a period of several months. I knew them and their families personally. Sithole’s pregnancy grew in size right before my eyes. I saw the woman’s health failing her. I saw her travelling to hospital for medical check-ups on several occasions. I trusted the couple,” Rampedi said without proving any doctor’s visit documents or sonar prior to the “birth” that had the whole world talking.
Weeks ago, Rampedi wrote a story about a Thembisa woman who had given birth to decuplets breaking the world Genius record. The story made headlines abroad, with social media users even organizing a national baby shower in support of the mother. Things turned south when the woman was apprehended by the police for mental evaluation after her boyfriend came out to defuse the story.
