Andrew Wakefield’s Complaint Against the Sunday Times – The Times of London Retreats

By John Stone

Following Andrew Wakefield’s powerful rebuttal of allegations by the Sunday Times and its journalist Brian Deer (HERE), its sister newspaper, The Times of London has been moved to retaliate with a defensive non-story by David Rose, ‘Case against Dr Andrew Wakefield, who linked MMR and autism, to cost over £1m’ (HERE.) The story does not mention Wakefield’s complaint.

After five years in which Times Newspapers have made all the running in trying to destroy Wakefield’s reputation they have suddenly become exercised that the cost of prosecuting Wakefield may have risen to more than £1m. It looks to me like this story was put together in a hurry – they cannot quote any real figures, and £1m is likely to be a fraction of the real cost. And what after all – in the great scheme of things - is £1m these days (when compared to a banker’s salary)? Indeed, how much have Times Newspapers themselves laid out trying to bring Wakefield down?