ECONOMY Secretary Fiona Hyslop has apologised after wrongly blaming the Herald for an insensitive article about her which appeared in another newspaper.
The piece criticised her for failing to attend a meeting the day after her mother died.
The Herald has offered Ms Hyslop its condolences.
The article was written by former Herald journalist Alf Young, but appeared in the Scottish edition of the Times.
On Twitter this morning, Ms Hyslop wrongly attributed the article to this newspaper, leading to a wave of online abuse directed at its journalists with several of her Cabinet colleagues retweeting it.
Ms Hyslop, who became secretary of economy, fair work and culture in this month’s mini-reshuffle, chairs the Holyrood group looking at the country’s population challenges.
She wrote: “Alf Young has based a whole article today on basis I didn’t attend 1 meeting of the Ministerial Population Task Force I chair and continue to chair- my mother had died the day before that meeting."
Education Secretary John Swinney was among those who wrongly attacked the Herald for the Times article.
He said the piece was “Utterly shocking and indefensible. Your standards have utterly sunk.”
He later deleted the Tweet.
Ms Hyslop later tweeted: “Apologies to @heraldscotland Alf Young’s article is in The Times.”
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf also apologised for the misappropriated Tweet.
This is awful. Don't know Alf Young but I hope he has the common decency to hold his hands up & apologise. I also hope now knowing circumstances (which Alf could have checked) the @thetimesscot will take down the article.
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) February 26, 2020
Ps: Apols for @heraldscotland mistakenly tagged! https://t.co/YKgUZGvhw0
Times Scotland editor Magnus Llewelin responded to Ms Hyslop on Twitter: "I am sure Alf Young was not aware of your bereavement. However, his column is not based on you or your attendance at a ministerial task force meeting.
"It focuses more on the reasons why talented young Scots still choose to leave the country".
A spokesperson for The Herald said on twitter: "This morning, when our online team arrived at the office, we were shocked to see hundreds of messages condemning us for a column published by Alf Young in The Times criticising Fiona Hyslop for missing a meeting of the ministerial population task force she chairs.
"Unfortunately, Fiona believed the column to have been published in The Herald and tagged us in a Tweet confirming she was unable to attend due to the recent passing of her mother.
"Fiona has since apologised for what was obviously a mistake and we have accepted that apology.
"The Herald would also like to pass on our condolences to Fiona and her family at what is clearly an awful time".
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