Archive for the ‘Media Retraction’ Category

Released on Wednesday 25th April 2007

Yahoo cannot link the name of Universal church to the ‘royal mint’ – ‘casa da moeda’(the place where the money is printed).

Brazilian Yahoo is obligated to take away from its search engine on the website the link between the name of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and the expression ‘money house’. The order comes from the judge Alexandre Almeida, from São Paulo. The judge determined a daily charge of R$500 (approximately £125) in case the decision is not followed. Read more: Money and faith

National newspaper publishes formal apology and pays out £10,000 legal costs.

In August 2000 The Independent newspaper published an article in which false allegations were made against the UCKG and its founder, Bishop Macedo. The article claimed, in an extremely denigrating tone, that the UCKG had links with the Colombian drug trade and that the Bishop had been in prison for fraud.

Bishop Renato Cardoso, responsible for the UK church at the time, felt strongly about those false allegations and decided to take legal action against The Independent.

“The article was so plainly wrong and misleading, we couldn’t just let it be. Our name and reputation suffered severe damage since the article inferred that the UCKG and those who ran it were associated with criminals and crime,” said the Bishop.

The newspaper accepted that the impression the article had given was wrong and that it owed the Bishop an apology. It paid legal costs of £10,000.

Smear campaign

Bishop Renato Cardoso feels that both he and the church have been vindicated.

“This victory proves once again that people shouldn’t always believe what they read in the papers, especially when it comes to UCKG. ‘It confirms that the Church and its leaders were smeared. Those behind the article paid little regard to the truth, reporting untrue allegations as if they were facts. The result was to harm the work of the Church.”

The success of the case will also be of some comfort to UCKG members who feel that their church has been put down by one-sided reports in the press. Read more: UCKG is vindicated

In May of this year, the Walthamstow Guardian published an article where false allegations were made about the UCKG and one of its pastors, Pastor Alvaro Lima. The article strongly suggested that Pastor Lima had acted negligently in his brief dealings with Victoria Climbie.

This is not the first time that this particular newspaper has written negative things about the church. The UCKG would not tolerate such reports and decided to take legal action against the Walthamstow Guardian.

Following the action, the newspaper agreed to publish a letter from Pastor Lima clarifying what happened and paid costs in excess of £4,000.

Another victory

Bishop Renato Cardoso was very happy with the outcome. “This is yet another victory for the UCKG. I’m sure that this, coupled with our success over The Independent newspaper earlier this year, should make reporters think twice before printing false allegations about us in the future. Lies will not be tolerated.”

The Church will not hesitate to consider taking legal action against other newspapers who attempt to publish libellous reports. Read more: Newspaper publishes clarification and pays costs

Britain’s leading left of centre political magazine, the Newstatesman, published an article last month where false allegations were made about the UCKG HelpCentre.

The church was referred to as a religious sect and cult and was linked to the Victoria Climbie child abuse case.

Not tolerating such lies, the UCKG HelpCentre took immediate action and the magazine agreed to publish a clarification in its very next issue.

The UCKG Press Office said, “We’re sick and tired of people making false allegations and we will endeavour to uphold the good name of the church by taking immediate action against any publication that publishes lies.” Read more: Magazine publishes clarification following false accusation