Joined: Sat 10-18-2003 10:26PM Posts: 2954 Location: Stone's throw from Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs
Source: Off Campus
The following is a retraction/apology letter sent to the campus community by S&T Communications Director Andrew Careaga, on behalf of the Missouri Miner editorial staff.
Quote:
Dear Readers:
The article headlined “Graduate student settles lawsuit against former Dean,” which appeared on page one of the Sept. 10, 2009, edition of The Missouri Miner, contained several inaccuracies, and the Miner staff did not properly check the information for factual accuracy prior to publication. As the editor in chief of the Missouri Miner, I realize that publishing this article without first checking to ensure accuracy was irresponsible and exhibited poor judgment. The Missouri Miner regrets publishing the article and wishes to set the record straight by issuing the following corrections:
The article incorrectly states that Paula M. Lutz, a former dean at Missouri S&T, was “terminated” from her position on campus “due to many lawsuits.” That is incorrect. Dr. Lutz resigned in good standing from her position as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 2007, when she accepted a position as dean of Montana State University College of Letters and Science.
The article also incorrectly states that Alirez Bakhtiari “filed at least four lawsuits in Missouri state and federal Courts against the university and former Dean Lutz as an individual defendant.” Bakhtiari filed only two lawsuits in which Dr. Lutz was named as a defendant. He did file two additional lawsuits against the university which did not name Dr. Lutz as a defendant.
Not all of the allegations listed in the article were contained in the lawsuits filed against Dr. Lutz. Furthermore, none of those allegations were admitted to be true nor determined by a court to be true.
The article also incorrectly states that Dr. Lutz was the subject of “many lawsuits,” including “at least three” brought against her by university employees. Again, this is incorrect. Dr. Lutz was named in only the two lawsuits filed by Bakhtiari and no other lawsuits.
The article also claims, “Bakhtiari … received $1,500,000 in settlement in return for a global release.” In fact, the case was settled, but Bakhtiari received a settlement of $50,000 in exchange for a global settlement of all pending lawsuits and all pending appeals, a covenant not to file lawsuits in the future and other contractual obligations.
Finally, the byline for the article said it was a “Missouri S&T Press Release,” implying that it was issued by the university’s public relations office. This, too, is incorrect. The source of the information was UM WatchDog, and we published the article UM WatchDog sent us verbatim, without bothering to check with any university official to see whether the information was factual or not.
On behalf of the editorial staff of the Missouri Miner, apologize to Dr. Lutz, to the university community, and to our readership for our errors and lack of vigilance in verifying the facts prior to publication of this article.
Sarah Richmond Editor in Chief The Missouri Miner
Ouch.
What I have to wonder though, is what moron thought this was a good idea to run in a student newspaper? Probably better put, though, why do we care? I mean this is first-run Grade A libel we're talking about. They weren't even at this level since the Michele Martin suing the University lawsuit fiasco two years ago.
This seems like a fine opportunity to get rid of funding for an organization that hasn't deserved it for a long time. I don't know anyone who uses the Miner for anything other than sudoku... or birdcage lining.
Not that I always find the mineshaft to have the best content, or to edit themselves well - but they're not pretending to be the NYT or anything. There's a big difference between having bad writing/stories here and there and being the full on piece of filth that is the Missouri Miner.
_________________
BigPeeOn wrote:
Here's the deal: chemistry is the devil. Anything beyond balancing an chemical equation is black magic.
Joined: Thu 08-23-2007 5:42PM Posts: 111 Location: the void
Source: Fidelity
I worked for the miner - there is one good reason why the miner is a piece of crap.
Writers are paid per line they write.
This means they want to fluff it, stuff it, and wrap it all in BS and shove it out there. They don't care about checking their sources. Or checking for mistakes. And don't get me started on editors checking it before they ship it out, or how they format it. *sighs*
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a newspaper on campus, but the Miner needs some help. They need staff who care, more editors, maybe make it a bi-monthly paper instead of weekly, etc etc. Badly.
Also, I'd love to see a copy of the piece. Anyone got a scan?
Last year it costs the students of this school an estimated $29,241 for the sub-standard newspaper at a cost of around $2.85 per student. They want to bump this up to over $31,000 dollars this academic year.
I'll tell you the thing that's the MOST fucked up. Look at who wrote that piece. Oh, you can't? They authored it as "press release." I can't help but think that they expected this shit to happen. If a writer had been so secure in the facts of the article, why wouldn't they have wanted their name attached to the article? Where did this supposed "press release" come from?
The lack of accountability is the most distressing thing about The Miner.
_________________ "Jesus is never mad at us if we live with him in our hearts!"
"I hate to break it to you, but he is--he most definitely is."
The word "bi-partisan" usually means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out.
Thats really the sort of thing that merits getting kicked out of school. If you tried to pull shit like that at a job you'd be fired. Mistakes we can let slide - we're all human, and they happen. But a colossal fuck up like this would be grounds for being shown the door anywhere else.
_________________
BigPeeOn wrote:
Here's the deal: chemistry is the devil. Anything beyond balancing an chemical equation is black magic.
Joined: Thu 08-23-2007 5:42PM Posts: 111 Location: the void
Source: Fidelity
Now that I think about it, I wonder how they are going to handle the Swine Flu 'panic'. If they just put some some propaganda of bullshit about how its going to kill us all, I am going to officially give up on them.
Its only killed about 3,600 out of 6 BILLION PEOPLE WORLDWIDE.
And if you even scroll down *gasp, effort?!?!*, it shows clearly that the normal flu kills between 250,000-500,000 people a year. Lord. Blown out of proportions, indeed. =_=
Joined: Sat 10-18-2003 10:26PM Posts: 2954 Location: Stone's throw from Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs
Source: Off Campus
That's the entire article? How do you expect to drag somebody's name through the mud in only 200 words?
Wow, not only is that horrible, it's horribly written. Not to mention the glaring error of using MST--a non-standard abbreviation--in a purported university "press release". And using UMR in one other place.
That is incredibly sloppy copy, any editor who allowed that to go through deserves the ax, solely on the merit of its writing. When you consider the complete lack of fact-checking, it's a wonder they don't themselves get sued.
Joined: Mon 08-18-2003 2:33PM Posts: 1188 Location: Somewhere East Of Pittsburgh
Source: Off Campus
Back when I worked at the miner, we could use press releases could be used as filler. If one was going ot use a press release it was supposed to be straight copy/pasted as it was given to us by the administration. Assuming it is credited properly, and under the same rules as 4 years ago, that article was written by someone in the MST public relations office, and not by the miner. It's also very likley that the editor didn't read it because they couldnt' change it anyway. Personally, I never used a press release because I felt that the students paying for hte paper didn't really want me to print something the administration sent me in an email.
Joined: Sat 10-18-2003 10:26PM Posts: 2954 Location: Stone's throw from Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs
Source: Off Campus
mad duck wrote:
Back when I worked at the miner, we could use press releases could be used as filler. If one was going ot use a press release it was supposed to be straight copy/pasted as it was given to us by the administration. Assuming it is credited properly, and under the same rules as 4 years ago, that article was written by someone in the MST public relations office, and not by the miner. It's also very likley that the editor didn't read it because they couldnt' change it anyway. Personally, I never used a press release because I felt that the students paying for hte paper didn't really want me to print something the administration sent me in an email.
Except it wasn't released by the MST Office of Communications. The dead giveaway to that is the fact they use UMR in the body of the article at least twice. And it doesn't read like a press release. (i.e. This looks shopped, I could tell by some of the characters and from having seen quite a few press releases in my time)
I've gotten a little more background on the situation since this happened. It is to my understanding that: As a direct consequence of this, the Miner got no SAFB funding for this year. Nothing. Mr. Careaga, the official Communications Director (i.e. the guy who approves Missouri S&T Press Releases) made the paper run that two-page retraction and made everyone in least part involved apologize, basically to keep the paper alive and keep the students responsible from being expelled.
Recall, this isn't a minor screwup. This is libel. This is potentially criminal.
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