Wired News investigates but doesn’t explain
UPDATE: The results of the investigation have been published. Go here for more info.
Wired News typically runs very short, often vague corrections. But this one clearly requires more explanation:
This story has been modified to remove quotes attributed to the Rev. Michael Amesse, who says he did not talk to the reporter.
Here’s the story in question. It was originally published on November 10, 2004. The correction ran on April 20, 2005.
Perhaps we can offer some context. The article was written by Michelle Delio, a freelancer for Wired.com whose work is, apparently, still under investigation by the site. Another publication, MIT’s Technology Review, previously had to retract some her work and remove some of her articles from their site after an investigation. See here and here for more information.
Delio’s work for Wired is apparently being investigated by Adam Penenberg, the journalist who exposed Stephen Glass. He is now a columnist at Wired News, in addition to being a journalism professor at New York University. So it would appear that this tardy, puzzling correction is a result of the investigation. Of course, no one reading the correction would have any idea of this history or the ongoing investigation. Nor would they understand why a story published almost six months ago is only being corrected now. It’s also unfortunate that an apology isn’t offered up to the Rev. as the site did, after all, publish fabricated quotes attributed to him.
What good is an investigation if you don’t communicate your results?
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