Mea Culpa

Like everyone, we here at the Indiana Daily Student make mistakes from time to time. Unfortunately, because we relied on assumptions, the one we made in Tuesday’s paper caused unneeded concern from a number of our readers.\nIn the page one story Tuesday, “Student catches disease that fewer than 5 contract per year,” we reported that an IU junior contracted diphtheria – a very rare and potentially dangerous respiratory illness. While many sources were reached for the story, including a representative from Bloomington Hospital where the patient was treated, we relied on the assumption that the hospital had confirmed the diagnosis. It did not. \nAfter the reporter talked to the officials at the hospital Monday, no one clearly denied the diagnosis. That combined with information from one source not from the hospital, who said he believed it to be a case of diphtheria, led us to believe it was a confirmed diagnosis.\nWhile the story itself did not contain any false information, the headline included a claim that was not 100-percent verified. The information we had at the time led us to believe that it was a confirmed case of diphtheria, but we should have made absolutely certain from more sources that this was true, and we should have clearly asked a specific question: Could the hospital confirm or deny the diagnosis? In hindsight, it would have been best to hold the story until more sources were contacted. \nBecause of the seriousness of the topic, the prominent placement of the story and the concerned responses we received from readers, we immediately decided to write a follow-up article for today’s paper to set the record straight. Normally if we report false information, we will print a correction in the paper. However, with this case we decided the best way to make the information clear was to give prominent placement to today’s follow-up. \nThe blame for this mistake does not fall entirely on the reporter, who did a great job getting the information for the story, or the editors who coached the writer through the process. With thousands and thousands of words and dozens of articles in every edition of the paper, it is inevitable that mistakes will happen. That is not to say errors are excusable. We erred and I apologize.\nInstead of assigning blame, what is most important is that everything is done to correct those mistakes. We will use the experience to avoid such situations in the future. In today’s edition we hope to correct any misinformation from the past issue, and in the future we will not just rush stories through. I cannot promise that we won’t make a mistake again, but I do promise that in the end we will strive to give you the most accurate information possible.