We, the editorial board of The Reflector, were disappointed to find out a reporter from the University of Alabama’s student newspaper, The Crimson White, fabricated sources in numerous news stories since January of this year. As a result, the reputation and integrity of The Crimson White has been placed under scrutiny.
The reporter, freshman and journalism major Madison Roberts, was removed from the staff after admitting on March 13 that she fabricated sources. She made up names of students, professors, years and majors and quoted nearly 30 students in her articles who could not be found in school directories or on social media. This information was presented in a news article directly from The Crimson White.
The Crimson White removed her stories from its website and released a statement about the ordeal from Editor in Chief Will Tucker on March 20, one week after the discovery and confession of the fabricated stories.
As a student publication, we understand the consequences of human error. Staff writers of The Reflector have accidentally misquoted sources or presented false information from time to time. These errors usually happen in innocence, and The Reflector addresses the problems by running corrections and taking further action if necessary.
Roberts said in an email to the editors at The Crimson White, “I made a mistake. I knew it could affect the CW as a whole, and I apologize to those I hurt,” she wrote.
Tucker said in an email the reason the staff waited a week to publish the discovery of the fabricated stories in order to report more objectively.
“We waited to publish this to thoroughly finish our review. I knew it was risky, because of the damage we could have taken had someone else found out and published it before we did, but I wanted to be sure about everything,” he wrote.
While she may be very remorseful for her actions, we disagree that her judgments were a mistake. She made a decision to create sources; fabrication is not a human error.
Fabrication is a deliberate, conscious decision to create something untrue. Fabricating is lying, and lying immediately breaks the trust a journalist establishes with his or her readers.
Journalists, including students, have the responsibility of seeking and presenting the truth. The truth can be inconvenient; sometimes sources are difficult to get in touch with; sometimes we don’t always get the right quote we had in mind for a story. But never, under any circumstance, situation or pressure, should we lie about information and present it as truth.
Journalists have the responsibility of presenting the truth as well as protecting their sources. When one compromises the integrity of a story by creating false sources, he or she also compromises the protection and respect of the actual people he or she may have interviewed. Roberts wrote stories about things like bullying, which is already a sensitive topic that could compromise the protection and safety of a source.
The Crimson White now faces the process of regaining the trust of its readers  because of one reporter’s decision to not tell the truth.
We hope this fiasco will serve as a wake-up call to journalists everywhere to always choose the path of truth, no matter the circumstance.