| Tahoe Review issues Formal Retraction |
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| Written by Ryan Wexler | |
| Saturday, 28 May 2005 | |
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The publishers of Tahoe Review would like to extend a formal apology to our readers and retract comments made in our May 21, 2005 Ski Report. We inaccurately reported that the Coffin was completely unskiable. Our source, which will remain confidential, reported that the Coffin required a mandatory air over a hollow rock section that was seemingly not possible. However, after growing unrest and the general controversy that ensued following this report the situation was reassessed on May 26, 2005 and clearly the report was flawed. The Coffin is in fact skiable and more importantly is skiing particularly well. Clearly, if we had anticipated the overwhelming damage that this report did to the ski area's image it would not have been published. We now realize that controversial content such as this can cause irreparable damage. In response, we are re-evaluating our internal guidelines for the handling of controversial content especially in conjunction with the use anonymous sources. We will therefore be issuing a new and much more stringent internal policy regarding our fact checking. However, although we do not want to make light of this error, we do take issue with the reaction of the ski area's Administration. We find comments such as these from the press secretary to be out of line. "It's appalling that this story got out there. The report had real consequences, Skiers lost their will to ski. Our image in the San Francisco Bay Area has been damaged. There are some who are opposed to free skiing and what it stands for, who will now exploit this allegation. Tahoe Review needs to be on a tighter leash." Click here for the full text. This criticism is over the top and we would like to applaud fellow reporters for backing our cause as is evident in the following comment issued toward the press secretary. "With respect, who made you the editor of Tahoe Review? Do you think it's appropriate for you, at that podium, speaking with authority of the Mountain Manager, to tell a magazine what they should print? " Click here for the full text. As we have said you can be professional in your reporting and still make mistakes. And although we concede this was a mistake, we feel that the resulting pressure we received from the administration was inappropriate and a clear breach to our right to freedom of speech. Sincerely, Tahoe Review Publisher |