Paper Apologizes For Story

The Boston Herald issued a front page apology for what they called an erroneous report.

The Boston Herald ran a front page apology for what they called an erroneous report involving allegations of inappropriate videotaping practices by the staff of the New England Patriots. The story was published the week of Super Bowl XVII -- a game that involved the Patriots playing against the New York Giants.

On Feb. 2, 2008, the Boston Herald reported that a member of the New England Patriots’ video staff taped the St. Louis Rams’ walkthrough on the day before Super Bowl XXXVI. While the Boston Herald based its Feb. 2, 2008, report on sources that it believed to be credible, we now know that this report was false, and that no tape of the walkthrough ever existed.

The Herald apology admitted that the paper had no first hand knowledge of a tape, and that the paper didn't do enough due diligence to verify the information before going forward with the article. The paper asked for forgiveness and apologized to the teams owners, players, employees and fans for their error

Source: Boston Herald

PATRIOTS REACTION

The Patriots reaction came in the form of an interview with Patriots owner Robert Kraft speaking to CNBC's Squawk Box program Wednesday morning.

"I felt very good seeing this paper (the Herald) because we have worked very hard over the last decade and a half to establish a strong bond with out fans where they could trust and believe in the integrity of the team and this story coming out the day before the Super Bowl -- the biggest game in our history, going for a perfect season -- was very damaging and put a cloud over us for the last three and a half months," said Kraft of seeing the Herald's apology.

When asked about his feelings about the videotaping incident, dating back to the Jets game, Kraft spoke of the team's success despite the intense scrutiny.

When you think about it, our people broke a rue the first week of the season," Kraft said. " Since that time, there's no team in the history of sports who's been under more intense scrutiny. And we were able, over the next 18 weeks of the season, to go 18-0 and we were gong towards a perfect season and I don't think anyone can -- because of the scrutiny that was going on, no one has questioned what has happened during that period."

The rest of the CNBC interview can be seen here: ( link )

MORE:
Herald Apology (BostonHerald.com)
AP Article With Kraft's Reaction
Goodell's Investigation Concludes
Patriots' Official Team Statement

Hot Topic: What Should the Herald Do?