OPINION: University of Washington student newspaper sat on police reports for more than three months, only following up after College Fix prompting
For three and a half months, the University of Washington student newspaper has continued to keep up a story, without any correction, that suggested a hate crime on campus had possibly occurred.
The Daily has done this despite being provided with the police reports from the university showing that Isha Hussein’s claim that she was threatened by her Jewish roommate following an Oct. 2023 argument about Israel lacked evidence.
The student newspaper, via Managing Editor Sofia Schwarzwalder, only updated its March article after The College Fix reached out for comment last week.
Furthermore, despite already having the police reports via The Fix since July 11, the newspaper appears to have requested the documents again. The Fix made contact with the newspaper and provided the reports via the original story on July 11.
“Update Oct. 27, 2024: UWPD records show the case was closed on April 10 as the officer ‘could not establish probable cause’ based on an interview with the only named witness,” the student newspaper added to the top of one of its stories about the allegations. “A copy of the report can be found here,” the note says, linking to a Google Drive police report printed on Oct. 25 – several days after The Fix reached back out for comment. The Fix also went on “The Jason Rantz Show” in Washington on Oct. 24.
The Fix also shared the latest article debunking Hussein’s claim she was assaulted in November. No note about this has been added to The Daily stories.
“We are currently following this on our end and requesting additional documents,” Schwarzwalder wrote to The Fix on Oct. 25.
The Fix responded by asking what documents were needed, since the reports were already available. No further comment has been provided. There is also no update to the story to mention that Hussein’s November 2023 assault also lacks any evidence.
The student newspaper initially did a good job of interviewing Hussein, and then informing readers that the black Muslim student had retracted her promise to provide documentation backing up her claims.
“This article discusses events that cannot be fully verified with documents so far provided to The Daily,” an editor’s note on the initial article stated. “These documents exist. The Daily is dedicated to reporting the story.”
But in the past months, the student newspaper has shown it is not “dedicated to reporting the story.”
That is disappointing because the university recently released a report on antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus. Students are being left without important information about a major controversy on campus – including a march, covered by the newspaper, calling for “justice” for Hussein. No note has been added to that article. Schwarzwalder, the managing editor, wrote all the articles.
Furthermore, a mere correction on an article more than seven months old does the bare minimum to inform students that the claims have been debunked. Unless someone regularly checks the old article, reads The College Fix, or listens to radio host Jason Rantz, they are not likely to get any updates on this story.
The student newspaper and its editors are failing to carry out their journalistic duty to provide full information to their readers.
They should write a new story explaining why it took them 108 days to publicize information they had, and why there was no full article, fresh on the site and in publication, about the controversy.
MORE: There were 19 campus hate crime hoaxes in 2023
IMAGES: Baona/Getty Images; The Daily
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