An internal Observer inquiry, launched following the publication of an inaccurate report on the death of Liam Lawlor in Moscow, has recommended changes to the way the paper handles sensitive material in future.
The Observer yesterday published an account by its readers' editor, Stephen Pritchard, outlining the series of events that led it to run the original article.
According to Mr Pritchard (who carried out the inquiry), the inaccuracies in the original report were based on "a theory" related by a policeman in Moscow to the paper's correspondent in that city, as well as "another uncorroborated rumour from an Irish source".
"In its way, it is a classic example of the dangers inherent in our attempts to report events as they unfold," wrote Mr Pritchard.
His report recommended a number of reforms in the way sensitive material is handled. He urged "particular caution over information supplied by single sources" and proposed "a rethink to our regional edition structure to allow more time to handle contentious material".
The Observer's Ireland edition last week ran a front-page retraction of its original article, as well as an apology to the Lawlor family and a then unnamed woman it had suggested may have been a prostitute.
Julia Kushnir, the Ukrainian interpreter who survived the crash issued a statement saying she was "shocked and disgusted" by the "reckless, vengeful and ill-corroborated" stories that appeared about her in the press.
The Sunday Independent and other newspapers also issued apologies for their coverage of Mr Lawlor's death.
Setting out the unfolding of events on the day of the accident, the Observer said that, during a conversation between a Moscow police spokesman and the paper's Moscow correspondent, the former "had a theory that she [a woman passenger] might be a young prostitute: 'No passport, that kind of clothes,' says the spokesman, leading to chauvinist conclusions.
"This was a story that journalists wanted to believe . . . He had fallen from grace not once but several times, and had been to jail on three occasions. This would appear to be a man with no reputation to lose.
"Yet one call to his family - a difficult call, but a necessary one - might have established that there had indeed been a woman in the car and that it was Julia Kushnir, Mr Lawlor's 29-year-old translator, a person known to Mrs Lawlor and her family.
"Instead, we chose to follow a theory presented by an unnamed Moscow police source, and compound it with another uncorroborated rumour from an Irish source," said the Observer.
A spokesperson for Independent News and Media said an internal Sunday Independent inquiry was ongoing.