Readers of LSJ.com might have noticed a short-lived blog posting that suddenly disappeared from the site Thursday.
The posting, from a non-staffer, was a regurgitation of a shaky story that appeared on the Michigan Messenger website about “two high-profile Michigan State University basketball players …accused of committing a sexual assault on campus in August.”
The person making the allegations — the “victim,” as the Messenger puts it — is not named, nor are the players.
The prosecutor reviewed the facts, and declined to charge anybody.
After the blog post was promptly removed from LSJ.com, blogger, Matt Morgan fired off this e-mail to me, and others in the newsroom:
“1. Why aren’t you covering this story?
“2. How bad are you going to look when you finally have to cover it as it gains national attention?
“3. Are you really so beholden to MSU Athletics that you even have to censor my blog posting about it?
“4. Are you following your own ‘Standards and Principles of Ethical Conduct for Newsrooms, seeking and reporting the truth in a truthful way?”
Yes, that’s exactly what we’re doing.
What about it readers — should we have run with the story, or not?
