Telegraph censured for fabricated story of banker’s struggle to pay school fees | Telegraph Media Group
The Telegraph has been slammed by the press standards watchdog after publishing a completely fabricated story about a wealthy banker complaining about the impact of tuition fee rises.
Freelance journalist and author Ian Fraser complained to the Independent Press Standards Organization (Ipso) that the Telegraph had breached editors’ code of practice in an article titled: “We earn £345,000 but rising private school fees mean we can’t go on five holidays.”
The article, which was only published online on May 25 last year, described the impact of private school fee increases on a couple and their three children.
The story told how investment banker Al Moy, 38, and his wife Alexandra had a joint salary of £345,000 with their two children attending fee-paying schools. It was stated that the couple also has a daughter named Ali, a son named Harry and a two-year-old son named Barry.
The article claimed that after Labor introduced VAT on school fees on 1 January 2025, the couple were forced to switch supermarkets from Waitrose to Sainsbury’s, reduced their gardening to once a month and took fewer long-distance overseas holidays to make ends meet.
However, the family was not present.
Last year, following suggestions that the entire article had been generated by artificial intelligence, the Press Gazette revealed that it had been written by a real journalist and was based on a real phone interview with a man who appeared to have deceived the reporter and given him a fake name.
The Press Gazette said the case study was created by a public relations firm working for financial planning firm Saltus. The story also referenced the Saltus study, which estimated the average lifetime cost of tuition.
Fraser first expressed concerns about Bluesky On using stock footage taken more than a decade ago to depict the family. Fraser said he could find no trace of bankers Al and Alexandra Moy anywhere online other than the Telegraph.
Complaint approved and Ipso required Telegraph.co.uk will publish its decision To resolve rule violations.
The decision stated: “While the publication acknowledged that it had not exercised due diligence as to the accuracy of the article, it was satisfied that any errors were promptly and conspicuously corrected.”
“It was stated that the article was ‘removed’ from the internet and social media as soon as the problems in question emerged. He added that it became clear that there was a problem with the images shortly after it was published, and this led to an internal investigation. He stated that the problems that emerged as a result of the investigation were due to the lack of pre-publication checks.”
On 18 June, the Telegraph issued an independent apology, saying it could not verify the details published.
A Telegraph spokesman said: “The Telegraph takes any breach of the editors’ code of practice seriously. Having identified the complexity of this matter, we took immediate steps to remove this article from online and social media. We have issued an apology in line with Ipso guidance and reinforced our commitment to the highest editorial standards, which were woefully inadequate in this case. We have strengthened our pre-publication processes after launching a thorough internal investigation.”
A spokesman for PR agency Boldspace, which acted on Saltus’ behalf, said: “The individual was identified through a reputable research partner. We then made an initial call to confirm whether he matched those required for the story. The freelance journalist who wrote the article for the Telegraph then conducted a separate, independent 45-minute interview directly with the individual, during which they asked detailed questions and ultimately determined that his story was valid.”
“Saltus was not involved in identifying the case study or offering the journalist for an interview, nor was Saltus involved in the interview that took place between the case study and the journalist.”
