Good afternoon.
EFE is a giant of national and international information, a public news company backed by its credibility, achieved thanks to decades of public service, professionalism and honesty. However, today we have made a new mistake. Our news lines have distributed this midday the false news of the death of the writer and professor Fernando Aramburu.
The false news has been rectified and denied by the Agency only a few minutes after being published. As president of EFE, I would first like to apologize and ask for forgiveness from Fernando Aramburu, with whom I have just spoken on the phone, his family, his relatives and his publishing house, Tusquets. A misleading account on social networks has triggered an unforgivable error by EFE due to a lack of verification.
I would also like to apologize to the media, institutions, organizations and companies that rely and trust in our services.
Less than a week ago, Agencia EFE was in the news for another false publication: the alleged collision of a helicopter against the Torre de Cristal in Madrid. Today, as on that occasion, EFE's veracity and rigor have been badly damaged by our own failures.
In the current context, in which a fierce battle is being waged between truthful information and disinformation, between the servants of the accurate account of the facts and the propagators of hoaxes and lies, the two mistakes we have made have profound and devastating effects for those who trust us and for our team.
For this reason, I have analyzed what happened with the Agency's Management Committee and I have called for this very afternoon an extraordinary and urgent meeting of the Board of Directors.At this meeting I will give all the pertinent explanations and we will discuss the measures to be taken to avoid the repetition of such failures.
Our duty is to continue offering the best public service we have been entrusted with and to contribute with our team to the cleanliness and credibility of the information ecosystem, which is essential for democracy.
https://agenciaefe.es/carta-presidente-efe-miguel-angel-oliver/
