The Exponent apologizes to its readers, and especially to Carly Jude Hood, Kaylyn A. Raymaker and members of Promoting the Gift of Life, a student organization, for inaccuracies and omissions in a front-page story published in the Oct. 17 issue of this newspaper.

The primary inaccuracy in the story was the headline, which stated that PGL was under investigation.

PGL is clearly not under investigation, nor did the story make that statement.

The headline writers’ choice of words did not accurately reflect the content of the story.

The story itself was not inaccurate, but it was not complete, which, combined with the headline, could lead readers to make false inferences concerning the organization and the individuals mentioned above.

Key pieces of information, relayed via email to the writer of the story, were provided by Raymaker but were not included in the story.

The omission was not deliberate, but the absence of Raymaker’s statement changed the story and, understandably, led readers to inaccurate conclusions.

In her email, Raymaker noted, in part:

“It is acceptable for a webpage to mention a group organization’s existence at our school. [An] example of affiliation would be if the site stated that UW-Platteville sponsored the page/program. Finally, there is nothing I can do about the statements made on the secondary page because this page does not associate itself with UW-P. Because of this, the person running that page is entitled to make whatever statements she wants, whether they are, or are not, similar to the purpose stated by the Promoting the Gift of Life club on campus.”

The Exponent strives to be fair, accurate, balanced and complete.

Due to the inaccuracies and omissions noted above, the resulting story was neither balanced, nor fair.

As student journalists, we will learn from these errors and continue our efforts to bring the news to our campus and community, while holding ourselves to the highest standards.