Determination
16
Minnesota
News Council
In the Matter of the Complaint of
Committee for Effective Crime Control against the Mpls Tribune
Jon Willand, secretary of the Committee for Effective
Crime Control, complained that inaccuracies in an editorial were not
adequately corrected by the publishing of his letter to the editor
with an editor's note admitting the error.
Background: Willand complained that the editorial
contained false information and sought to attack the credibility and
good name of the committee. He said that bracketed material in the
editorial gave the impression of stating the truth and of correcting
the "errors" in the committee's position. Willand claimed
the complaint was "prompted by a long history of editorial abuse
by the Mpls Star and Mpls Tribune."
Response of the news organization: The newspaper
editor said that the paper provided the complainant with a remedy
by promptly printing his letter to the editor and by publicly admitting
in the accompanying editor's note that it had committed a factual
error in writing the editorial. He suggested that other matters raised
in the complaint fell into the "debatable inferences or interpretations
contained in editorial comment area."
Determination of the Council: The newspaper's
actions following the error were a sufficient remedy for the mistake.
The remainder of the editorial constituted opinion and statements
that were subject to "reasonable areas of disagreement, and therefore
cannot be judged on the basis of error."
The complaint against the newspaper is not upheld.
June 18, 1976
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