CNN has apologized to The Irish Times for alleging that the newspaper carried fake nude photographs of Elin Nordgren, Tiger Woods' wife. The U.S. news network apologised for printing a story on its website that incorrectly accused The Irish Times of printing faked naked photographs of Tiger Woods’s wife Elin Nordegren.

The cable channel mixed up The Irish Times with another Irish publication The Dubliner magazine, which did fake photos of Elin Woods nude in 2006 and later apologized and paid a hefty fine.

CNN reported that, “In 2006, The Irish Times repeated the claims that the nude pics were of Nordegren. An enraged Woods and Nordegren replied with a lawsuit – and won $183,250 and an apology,” said the CNN website in the report which originated in People magazine.

At one point on Friday the www.people.com report was listed as the second most read item on the People site.

“This was a mistake which was corrected as soon as we became aware of it. We apologize for the confusion,” said a CNN spokesman.CNN and People magazine are both part of the Time Warner group, the U.S. media conglomerate.

Patrick Rogers, the executive news director for www.people.com, told The Irish Times it had corrected its story, and removed all mention of The Irish Times, and undertook to find out what had happened.