Malawi's leading private broadcaster Zodiak has been forced into a humiliating climbdown after wrongly reporting that President Peter Mutharika had "sneaked" out of the country -- in a story that turned out to be completely false.
The bogus claim traced back to an earlier report by state-run broadcaster Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), which had suggested the 86-year-old leader was jetting off to South Africa on a private trip.
That story was swiftly deleted after it emerged the trip hadn't actually gone ahead on Tuesday as reported, and had instead reportedly been pushed back to Wednesday.
Several other news outlets also ran with the sensational claim that Mutharika had already left Malawi -- but, unlike Zodiak, have so far refused to own up to getting it wrong.
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In a statement issued to correct the record, Zodiak admitted its error in full: "In our evening radio newscast yesterday, we inadvertently informed our publics that State President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika had 'sneaked' out of the country to an undisclosed destination. It turns out that we were wrong."
The broadcaster went further, retracting the story entirely and issuing a direct personal apology to the President.
"We, therefore, retract the story that we published yesterday in its entirety and unreservedly apologize to State President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika personally and all our valued publics for the inconvenience that particular publication may have caused," the statement read.
Zodiak insisted the embarrassing episode would not deter it from holding itself to account in future.
"As a broadcast house, Zodiak Broadcasting Station remains committed to accurate dissemination of news and information deemed in the interest of the people of this country but we will not hesitate to retract, apologize or make clarification for any and all erroneous communication because that is good journalism practice," it said.
The saga comes just a day after MBC itself sparked controversy by abruptly pulling its own story on Mutharika's travel plans -- with insiders claiming the broadcaster's boss had been ordered by a senior politician to keep the story under wraps.
