It was reported yesterday that The New Paper conveniently copied and pasted an article with minor edits from FourFourTwo football magazine and credited it to wire services.

TNP has written a clarification on Oct. 15, 2014, that the article's credit "should be FourFourTwo.com.sg and not Wire Services", but stopped short of apologising for the blatant theft.

We reached out to Ian Paynton, Publishing Manager Asia for FourFourTwo for comments.

This is what he said:

"We were expecting a correction, which was printed today. I received an apology over the telephone when I called up SPH. An apology in print would have been nice too, but we didn't demand one."

"This exclusive was built on years of trust as a reputable football brand. So yes, it's disappointing to see it lifted onto an SPH publication seemingly care-free. Standards should be higher. On the other hand, we must be doing something right if other media brands are looking to us for great content. It's a sign that FourFourTwo has landed in Asia and means business."

Top photo via FourFourTwo

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