On Monday, March 4th, 2013, The Quill published the article “BUSU Election Controversy” on our website, TheQuill.ca. Later that day, we were informed that our article did not cover the full scope of the issues discussed. After being given further information on the subject, we pulled the aforementioned article from our online edition the morning of Tuesday, March 5th. Following this, at noon, we sent a reporter to interview and get statements from the parties which had come forward with the new information. The new article was completed and sent in for editing at 8:00 pm on Tuesday, March 5th, and this new article was posted to our online edition at 10.00 pm.
The Quill strives to provide a fair and balanced viewpoint on student issues and local events, and we feel that in this particular incident, we failed to do so. Because of this, we feel it is only right to explain the events as we understood them, to the end that we remain transparent to the student body of Brandon University, as you have every right to hold us accountable for our work.
Firstly, we would like to refute any rumours that state that The Quill is anything less than independent. The Quill has always been and will always remain neutral in affairs of student politics, as we are no longer a subsidiary of BUSU since becoming independent in 2005. We can assure you that no one involved in BUSU or any other organization is influencing our reporting behind the scenes. It is solely an unfortunate accident that our original coverage of this particular complex issue could be read as supporting a particular slate, or indeed, as attacking a particular person.
Secondly, we would like to formally apologize for the incompleteness of the article we published on Monday, March 4th. At the time of printing, and at the time of publishing on Monday, The Quill was honestly unaware of any further information, and to the best of our knowledge, our coverage was factual and accurate. We acknowledge that this was not the case in light of the new information we were given, and we again apologize. As the print edition of The Quill is printed at roughly 6:30 am on Monday morning, we were unable to alter it, and therefore have inserted this statement and the new article. We unfortunately do not have the resources necessary to print an entirely new run of this issue, and we apologize for this, as well.
Finally, we would like to thank those people who came forward to hold us accountable for our work. We were provided with new information quickly, and this allowed us to pull the original article and work as rapidly as possible to repair any possible damage it may have caused. We appreciate that the students of Brandon University care enough about the integrity of its student newspaper to challenge its reporting when it is inaccurate, and we will continue to strive towards that integrity.
If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions about this incident or any other aspect of The Quill, please do not hesitate to contact Emily Diehl, the Editor in Chief, at eic@thequill.ca.
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