Penn paper retracts post about Rubio and the Bible
The University of Pennsylvania's student newspaper has retracted what it is calling an "erroneous post" on its website Saturday, the effect of which was so explosive that it led to the firing of a key staffer for a Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz.
The University of Pennsylvania's student newspaper has retracted what it is calling an "erroneous post" on its website Saturday, the effect of which was so explosive that it led to the firing of a key staffer for a Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz.
The post, created by journalists for the Daily Pennsylvanian, included a video showing another GOP presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, making remarks about a Bible that a man was reading. Incorrectly interpreting Rubio's words in a subtitled transcription, the post quoted the Floridian as saying there were "not many answers" in the Bible.
Rick Tyler, Cruz's communications director, shared the erroneous post on social media Sunday morning, and was fired the next day by Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas.
The newspaper retracted the post late Tuesday. Colin Henderson, the DP's president, wrote that "our transcription . . . was incorrect."
The student paper had sent seven journalists to cover the South Carolina GOP primary. Saturday morning, the DP posted a video of Rubio walking by a table where Rafael Cruz, Ted Cruz's father, and Christian Collins, a Cruz staffer, were seated in a Columbia, S.C., hotel.
As Rubio walked by the men, he made a remark. While editing the video, a newspaper staffer interpreted what Rubio said as, "Good book you got there. Not many answers in it. Especially that one."
By early Sunday, DP staffers had learned that the book was a Bible and noted that in their post.
In his retraction, Henderson, 20, a junior in the Wharton School, wrote that "this significantly changed the meaning of Rubio's words as originally transcribed, as it now purported to show Rubio pointing to the Bible and saying, 'Not a lot of answers in there.' "
Later, the students updated the post to reflect that they were growing uncertain of what Rubio actually had said.
The accuracy of the DP transcription of Rubio's words "was brought into question due to the unclear audio," Henderson wrote.
"We should have reached out to the parties involved to confirm what was actually said and what book the Cruz staffer was reading once we realized Rubio was referring to the book in the interaction. We failed to do so."
In an interview Wednesday afternoon, Henderson said the furor over the errors left some staffers feeling personally attacked.
"I think people recognized that while mistakes were made, people here are not pointing fingers," he said. "I've been impressed with everyone being careful of people's feelings."
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