On July 28, The Queen’s Journal published an article on the AMS Walkhome service. The article did not meet The Journal’s editorial standards, and as Editor-in-Chief, I take responsibility for allowing it to be published.
Trust in The Journal and its reporting is essential. In this instance, we fell short of the standards of fairness and thoroughness that our readers and the Queen’s community should expect from us.
The article, “One Walkhome walk costs students nearly $400, ‘Journal’ analysis shows,” did not include enough perspectives to provide a complete and fair account of the service, including the purpose of Walkhome or the experience of those who rely on it.
Important context and viewpoints were missing, resulting in coverage that did not adequately represent the purpose and efficacy of the service. This article should not have passed through our editorial process in the form it did. I am sorry for allowing the article to be published and for failing to exercise the necessary due diligence. For these reasons, the article has since been retracted.
We also recognize the author of the article had previous experience with Walkhome and works on The Journal’s business team. Maintaining a clear separation between our business and editorial operations is fundamental to our credibility, and I apologize for failing to uphold that separation. Moving forward, this distinction will be more carefully upheld, and no one from our business team will be permitted to write news stories.
Managing conflicts of interest is an important part of fair journalism. Preventing conflicts of interest will be more carefully considered moving forward.
While covering the usage of student fees is an important responsibility of The Journal, we acknowledge that in this case the reporting lacked an understanding of the service’s importance, especially regarding the safety it provides to vulnerable students. As Editor-in-Chief, it was my responsibility to ensure the article met our editorial standards and fulfilled our mandate as a student newspaper to fairly represent students and the services they use.
We are committed to fair, thorough, and responsible reporting. We intend to publish separate coverage of Walkhome that includes additional reporting, a broader range of perspectives, and a more careful approach.
Part of The Journal’s mandate includes being a place for public dialogue. Members of the Queen’s community who wish to share their perspectives are encouraged to submit a letter to the editor. Letters can be directed to opinions@queensjournal.ca or to me directly at eic@queensjournal.ca.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Reilly
Editor-in-Chief
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to eic@queensjournal.ca.