Staff Reporter
THE Spanish Government was ONCE AGAIN forced to counteract misleading reporting after a slew of national papers in the UK claimed foreign tourists would be ‘banned until after summer.’
No surprise, the stories all quoted English-language website www.euroweeklynews.com, which had misquoted prime minister Pedro Sanchez.
Under the headline: ‘Spain won’t welcome tourists until the end of the summer’, its writer made a massive boo boo – as it was simply not true.
As properly reported by the Olive Press, Sanchez actually told a press conference in Madrid that for Spain to ‘be in a better position’ to receive tourists ‘AS IT DID BEFORE’ the pandemic, 70% of the population would need to be vaccinated.
In other words, quite different from an all-out ban.
Nevertheless, the false story – or ‘bulo’ in Spanish – was presented as truth by British national papers, including the Mirror and Metro, who should have known better.
It led to Spain’s angry tourism minister Reyes Maroto having to counter the claims to the Telegraph the following day.
Knowing the fake story could be highly damaging to the tourism industry, she told the paper that the plan of the national Government was to actually begin welcoming tourists back this Spring.
It comes after the same English website made up a story about a nationwide lockdown coming to Spain in September 2020.
The alarming story, which included false government sources, led to mass panic and a slew of holiday cancellations to Spain.
There was an outcry on social media and the Olive Press immediately contacted the Health Ministry at the time and demanded it addressed the issue.
The Olive Press hires NCTJ-trained journalists who know how to fact check a story and follow media law.
We very rarely make mistakes but when we do, we always print a correction and it is never done so intentionally.
For years and to this day we actually write stories defending expats and work hard to get results on their behalf.
Whether it’s helping raise funds for cancer-stricken teens, helping secure the release of an innocent Brit from an Algeciras prison, launching a campaign to regulate the deadly painkiller Nolotil or most importantly, shining a light on all the crooks and criminals who are seeking to do you harm, we are the REAL people’s paper.
Which other British paper in Spain can say they have single-handedly brought down paedophiles, ponzi kings and dozens of fraudsters? And that’s not even the half of it.
Our many environmental campaigns, including the recent pylon victory, have helped protect the beautiful country we call home.
