Correction, Clarification, Apology

In response to my long-ass screed about Graydon Carter yesterday, a reader writes: "Great bit, and I'm reluctant to criticise because your précis of the Euro elections was great, but the Telegraph didn't just pay to get a jump on their rivals. The July the 1st release is going to be redacted. For 'safety' reasons many personal details and, most importantly, the addresses of MPs are being witheld. Without these it would have been impossible to uncover the repeated 'flipping' of the designated second home or its presence far from Westminster.

It is cheque-book journalism but really does have a public-interest defence. (Expect it to be used as an excuse for every sleazy tabloid buy-up for the next ten years)."

Fair enough. I don't know that it takes away from my larger point—to the extent that actually tracking down the redacted information rather than outright buying the unscrubbed version would have been the kind of "real reporting" that might actually save newspapers—but I was perhaps a little ungenerous in comparing the Telegraph's work on the story to mere transcription. Sorry about that.