Strike Two for Jezebel

We've been awaiting a retraction from Jezebel for its utterly scurrilous broadside against Scott Walker. The Daily Beast published a full retraction for their piece, which was based on the Jezebel article. For its part, Jezebel can't yet admit what is obvious to everyone:

[Editor's Note: After Jezebel ran this item yesterday, a spokesman for the University of Wisconsin came forward—over two weeks after the budget was released—to clarify: the University requested that Gov. Walker delete the requirements because efforts were redundant with their compliance of the Clery Act. Scott Walker's camp assures that he's committed to protecting victims. We reported this piece without full context, and while this piece conveys factual information, omission of that context for that information presents an unfair and misleading picture. We regret the error and apologize.]

Emphasis mine. The problem should be obvious here, but in case they can't figure it out, we'll explain it. The only context the article had is the one that Jezebel itself created. No one was reporting that Scott Walker was cutting funding for sex crime reporting until Jezebel ran their article.

Recall the claim itself:

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's proposed budget—which would cut $300 million dollars out of the state's beloved public university system—has a non-fiscal bombshell tucked in between its insane pages.

Under Walker's budget, universities would no longer have to report the number of sexual assaults that take place on a campus to the Department of Justice. Under Walker's plan, university employees who witness a sexual assault would no longer have to report it.

There are no policy recommendations in Walker's budget how or what would replace these reporting mechanisms. The Governor simply instructs that they should be deleted.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the bewildering force that is Scott Walker, know this: he is a small-time guy who is having a big-time moment by playing the conservative werewolf, a role Chris Christie and Jeb Bush are so far unwilling to play in their presidential bids.

We'll set aside the "insane" and "conservative werewolf" stuff, because that's the usual subtlety and nuance we've come to expect from our betters. The parts I've emphasized are lies, pure and simple. To argue that university employees can just look the other way is a lie. Flat out. To say that the governor is getting rid of reporting mechanisms is also a lie.

An apology for omitting context isn't nearly enough. A full retraction is what is required. Let's see if they figure that out.