One week after the Kuwait Times published a story claiming that the country had issued a ban on the use of DSLR cameras, it released a retraction saying that further investigation proved no such ban was in place.

Its retraction below, 

On Saturday, November 20, 2010 the Kuwait Times published an article titled ‘Multi ministry camera ban frustrates artists’ in which incorrect information was provided. The newspaper regrets failing to verify the information. The article wrongly stated that a ban on DSLR cameras was implemented by the Ministries of Information, Social Affairs and Finance. This information is false. In a follow up investigation, it was proved that no such ban has been issued. We regret this error and deeply apologize for any inconvenience caused.

One week is an infinity as far as the internet is concerned and as the story stood for a couple of days, despite the lack of  third party confirmation, it was picked up by high traffic sites and spread around the internet. The British government even went so far as to investigate the claim by the Kuwait Times.

Until the retraction, which was issued hours ago, there had been no corroborating story from other media, leaving the Kuwait Times as the sole source of the claim. For one entire week, Kuwait was a talking point, albeit negatively, all over the internet as people speculated, discussed, laughed, and shook their heads at the supposed imposition of the ban.

It was no doubt an irresponsible piece of journalism by Kuwait Times which cited nor quoted any source for the story. What took the story viral may have been the idea that such a ridiculous decision could be well grounded given the conservative nature of its government and people’s general lack of familiarity with how things are in the country.

via @pinot

Kuwait Times retracts story on DSLR ban