[2][3][4] The news article was removed from the Daily Express web site, but continued to provoke strong reactions, particularly among the blogging community.
[5] An online petition was drawn up asking for a front-page apology from the paper, as well as disciplinary action against the journalist and editor responsible; by 30 March, when it closed, it had attracted 11,186 signatures.
[6] Liz Smith, a Member of Scottish Parliament, was also criticised for describing the contents of some blogs as "in bad taste", a comment that was implied by the article to apply to those of the Dunblane survivors.
[7] On 22 March, the Scottish Sunday Express printed an apology, stating that: "Our front-page story about the teenage survivors of the Dunblane massacre and their use of social networking websites has caused terrible offence, not only in that town, but across Scotland and around the world.
[11] On 22 June 2009, the Press Complaints Commission issued an adjudication stating that the paper had made a "serious error of judgement" and further remarked that the subjects of the article "were not public figures in any meaningful sense, and the newsworthy event that they had been involved in as young children had happened 13 years previously ... since then they had done nothing to warrant media scrutiny, and the images appeared to have been taken out of context and presented in a way that was designed to humiliate or embarrass them."