'Press' retracts Doone case claim

The Press newspaper has retracted its claim that the Prime Minister told a Sunday Star-Times reporter "go back to your source" when she was questioned about what former police commissioner Peter Doone said to a constable who stopped his car in 1999.

The newspaper ran a story last month attributed to an unnamed source "close to the case" saying that in 2000 Helen Clark had warned the Sunday Star-Times journalist to go back to his source.

It said the phrase "go back to your source" was in a transcript of the Prime Minister's conversation with the journalist.

Helen Clark had previously denied that a transcript existed and said her lawyers had been given reporters' notes of an interview but not a transcript.

The Press said on Monday: "The Press now accepts that the transcript does not say 'go back to your source'. The paper regrets the error."

Mr Doone originally took legal action against the Sunday-Star Times. He dropped the action and said he was taking action against the Prime Minister after it emerged she was a confidential source of the story.

National leader Don Brash said yesterday that Helen Clark should release the "transcripts".

"One-line leaks that turn out to be inaccurate don't do anyone any good, least of all Helen Clark."