The rebuke, signed by 280 staffers of the Journal and sent to the paper’s new publisher, calls for better fact-checking, more transparency, and a clearer divide between news and opinion divisions, according to a draft of the letter obtained by Mediaite.
“Opinion’s lack of fact-checking and transparency, and its apparent disregard for evidence, undermine our readers’ trust and our ability to gain credibility with sources,” the letter to publisher Almar Latour says. “Many readers already cannot tell the difference between reporting and Opinion. And from those who know of the divide, reporters nonetheless face questions about the Journal’s accuracy and fairness because of errors published in opinion.One of the pieces cited by the letter is an op-ed from Vice President Mike Pence, published June 16, that declared there would be no “second wave” of coronavirus. Since, the virus has rapidly spread throughout the United States.
The Pence op-ed contained errors even at the time. Wall Street Journal reporter Rebecca Ballhaus fact-checked the piece for the paper’s news section, which prompted the opinion pages to issue a correction. In Ballhaus’ story, she noted that “The Journal’s news and opinion pages operate independently.”
Pence’s op-ed is not the first time the Journal’s conservative editorial pages — which have been helmed by Paul Gigot since 2001 — have run afoul of reporting from its news division. “Opinion articles often make assertions that are contradicted by WSJ reporting,” the letter argues.
The letter concludes with a series of proposals to further delineate the news and opinion divisions of the Journal, including “making this divide clearer.” The letter also proposes that journalists at the paper “should not be reprimanded for writing about errors published in Opinion, whether we make those observations in our articles, on social media, or elsewhere.”
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