Congrats Paul and Heather
Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:25 am
A baby girl, Beatrice, born today. And the London Times headlined it's a boy! Ooops!
It was a joyous occasion for Heather Mills and her 61-year-old superstar husband Sir Paul McCartney - the birth of their first baby.
And it was a happy event for the Daily Mirror, which had a world scoop on its hands - running a front page shouting: "It's a boy! Exclusive - Macca baby a month early!"
A happy event, that is, until 11.07am, when the Press Association solemnly announced the couple had become parents of a baby girl called Beatrice.
By then it was all too late for the Mirror, the Daily Record (which had broken the story for its sister title), the BBC, the Evening Standard and countless other outlets - including the distinguished Reuters and Associated Press - which had all followed up the Mirror's scoop.
With Sir Paul refusing to comment and the hospital effectively on answer machine, it was a case of excitement and enthusiasm getting the better of everyone.
This was understandable. After all, the Mirror, which is still basking in the glory of its other world exclusive about Princess Diana's secrets, had enough detail to give the story the ring of authority.
"I think they are going to call the baby Joseph after Paul's uncle," a family source was quoted as saying.
"All the McCartney men have a first name beginning with J - with the exception of Paul's brother Mike. Even Paul's real name is James."
By breakfast, everyone was in on the act and the London Evening Standard today splashed on "A baby boy for Macca", with a further story inside headed "Heather's boy", using the same quotes that appeared in the Daily Mirror story.
The "It's a boy" splash will go down as one of the most prominent factual errors in newspaper history.
It came through the Daily Record, where night reporter Vivienne Aitken penned a story headed: "Macca's wee cracker". This version of the story was still on the Record's website this afternoon.
Aitken was unavailable for comment but apparently got the story from the musician's nephew, who told the paper his father, Mike, "called and told me" Mills had given birth.
Why the paper reported it was a boy is still proving a mystery. A source close to the family, according to the Mirror, said they were convinced "they are going to call the baby Joseph after Paul's uncle".
Sir Paul's seasoned PR man, Geoff Baker, was giving nothing away. He claimed to be completely ignorant of the Mirror gaffe - even though the McCartneys had been celebrating the birth of Beatrice since Tuesday.
"I didn't speak to anybody," he said. "I didn't know about it until 11am when Paul and Heather sent me a statement."
As well as quoting the family source and an unnamed insider, the Record quoted Sir Paul's nephew, Josh, who said in the Record's version of the story: "I don't know if it's a boy or a girl or any names."
No one from the Record was available for comment but the Mirror editor, Piers Morgan, said, with his tongue firmly in cheek, that he was sticking by the story and would not be surprised if a someone in Sir Paul's entourage was trying to make mischief.
"We have an excellent scoop and we are sticking by our story. It's all very well for McCartney to say he has had a girl, but we need photographic evidence. After the David Blaine tip-off, it is possible that we were deliberately misinformed," said Morgan.
"It was a tremenduous scoop. Unfortunately in a 50:50 shot we got the wrong sex. What we want to see is verification. It can be very difficult to tell the sex of a baby from the waist up," said Morgan.
"It's a mistake but that's the trouble with rolling news," said one.