Scott Walker Story by The Daily Beast Is Retracted

The Daily Beast has retracted an article claiming that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s budget would cut sexual assault reporting from the state’s universities, Politico said.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (Image source: AP/Kamil Krzaczynski, File)

Written by a college columnist, the Daily Beast article cited a Jezebel piece ("Scott Walker Wants Colleges to Stop Reporting Sexual Assaults") that incorrectly interpreted a section of the state budget, taking it to mean that all assault reporting requirements were out, Politico said.

Far from it. Rather the University of Wisconsin system wanted the requirements deleted due to redundancy since it already provides similar information to the federal government, Politico noted, citing an Associated Press report.

Walker, a possible 2016 Republican presidential candidate, has been attracting a great deal of media attention of late.

Here's The Daily Beast’s retraction. Politico added that the “USA Today” story it references is actually an AP article:

A Daily Beast college columnist at the University of Wisconsin based this article off a Jezebel posting which was incorrectly reported. Jezebel updated their post on Saturday with the following after USA Today published a story debunking Jezebel's account and clarifying Gov. Scott Walker's position. "UPDATE: After Jezebel ran this item yesterday, a spokesman for the University of Wisconsin came forward—over two weeks after the budget was released—to clarify: the University requested that Gov. Walker delete the requirements because efforts were redundant with their compliance of the Cleary Act. Scott Walker's camp assures that he's committed to protecting victims.”

The Daily Beast is committed to covering the news fairly and accurately, and we should have checked this story more thoroughly. We deeply regret the error and apologize to Gov. Walker and our readers. This story should be considered retracted.

Jezebel's actual "Editor's Note" also includes these final two sentences:

We reported this piece without full context, and while this piece conveys factual information, omission of that context for that information presents an unfair and misleading picture. We regret the error and apologize.

But the reporter who wrote the Jezebel article had other things to say:

Ran an update on the Walker piece. Find another thing to be outraged about sweet, sweet Walkerites.

— Natasha VC (@natashavc) February 28, 2015

Also, I'm not gonna apologize for reporting what was in the budget. Because that was in the budget. Ask your gov. to apologize for bad optix

— Natasha VC (@natashavc) February 28, 2015

At a time when there is HEAVY scrutiny on state/fed/colleges, a proposal to delete standing regulations, requires more tact.

— Natasha VC (@natashavc) February 28, 2015

(H/T: Drudge Report)

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