The state-fun Philippine News Agency (PNA) has embarrassed itself again by using the logo of a pineapple company on an article about the country’s labour department.
The misplaced logo was used to illustrate a report about rules on holiday pay announced by the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole).
Instead of the governmental logo, the PNA used the distinctive trademark of Dole Food Company.
The post was up for a few hours on Friday (August 11) and was widely mocked before it was corrected.
After replacing the logo, the PNA apologised and described the error as a “careless act” by unidentified staff.
“In an effort to ensure that all stories are accompanied by a photo, the staff inadvertently attached the wrong photo rather than the logo of the Department of Labor and Employment,” the PNA editors explained.
“Rest assured that appropriate action is being taken in pursuit of the delivery of accurate information to our readers. Our apologies.”
It was the second time in recent days that the PNA has ben left red faced.
As we reported on Wednesday, the PNA published an article by China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency which belittled the Philippine claims to the South China Sea.
The article described the UN’s Hague arbitration tribunal ruling as an “ill-founded award.”
In May, the PNA also apologised for using a photograph of American soldiers conducting a house-to-house search in a poor village in Vietnam for a story on the Marawi siege.
In the same month, the agency was slammed for “fake news” suggesting that the Philippines had received wide-spread international backing following a UN human rights probe. The PNA claimed that 95 out of 105 nations agreed there were no extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. It was in fact only one country, China, that took this position.
“While there have been lapses in our judgment, it has never been the policy of PNA to tolerate erroneous reports, and it has certainly never been our intention to sow misinformation, much less share what is termed nowadays as fake news,” the PNA said in an earlier apology.
“We regret that these mistakes have cast doubt on our integrity as a news agency. Rest assured we have dealt with our erring personnel and that we are reviewing our procedures on reportage as we continue to uphold our commitment to deliver accurate and balanced news reports to the Filipino people and the world.”
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