Daily Mail readers have been left looking red faced after the Daily Mail picked up a story about babies as young as three months old skydiving that was apparently untrue.
"There was a satirical story about this," said the editor of the Daily Mail, Rebekha Mills. "Unfortunately, we thought it was true and wrote a story blasting those responsible."
This was put onto the Daily Mail website where hundreds of readers joined in the horror of small babies being thrown out of planes, with comments like "it shouldn't be allowed" and "I blame illegal immigrants" rife.
"In hindsight," said Mills, "We should have realised that the story was untrue when the article mentioned that one couple were planning on giving birth whilst free-falling. As labour can take several hours, and skydivers are in the air for only a few minutes, this is physically, biologically and possibly chemically, impossible."
With no pictures of skydiving babies available, the Daily Mail had mocked up an image of a baby in free fall reminiscent of the iconic Nirvana album cover. Their Photoshop job was so good that it convinced Daily Mail readers to the veracity of the story.
"We have issued a retraction," admitted Mills. "We've apologised for getting the wrong end of the stick in a thirty word piece on page thirty-nine of yesterday's paper. Between the article about hamsters being used for clearing mine-fields and the advert for erectile dysfunction."
