“Your series is supposedly about ‘fake Apple scandals,’ yet (this) piece is so off base as to create its own psuedo scandal …

“Had you called me, I could have told you what I know about it and corrected a number of the errors or incorrect insinuations that you make in discussing it. Because from where I’m standing, there was nothing nefarious about it at all, all rumors to the contrary.

“Indeed, until I read your piece, I had no idea that the iPhone promo box had been embedded inside that story. I didn’t place the promo inside the story. And I didn’t — as you insinuate in your piece — write the uncredited cutline that accompanied the photo.

“This afternoon, I asked (the) senior producer of the Mercury News Web site, for insight into why that promo box was placed on that story. Here’s her response:

“‘AP content on our site comes in an automatic feed from the wire. At the same time photos from AP come in via a similar automatic feed. Based on slugs (brief descriptions), photos and stories are automatically associated with each other. We did request that the image (Daniel) sadly screengrabbed be removed once we knew that it had hiccuped, but apparently didn’t beat (him) to it.

“‘I didn’t get a direct answer on if AP mis-slugged the photo, or if the automated computer system hiccuped — it could’ve been either.

“‘It was an unfortunate error of automation which has many flaws (and many benefits). One to chalk up to a “technical error.”‘”

“So, the whole starting point for your FAS 8 is false. There was no nefarious plot. Bill and Melinda Gates weren’t calling the shots. We weren’t trying to discredit Apple. It was a simple technical error, one that was corrected by the MercuryNews.com staff as soon as they recognized it. For proof of that, notice that the story no longer has the promo box embedded in it.”