While Matt DiBlasi’s article on the graffiti in the Butterfield tunnel walls was informative on several levels it did contain a significant error which should be noted. Specifically, the first sentence of the piece stated:
“Students have mobilized to replace decades’ worth of graffiti after the University recent repainted tunnel walls under the Butterfield B dormitory.”
Actually the graffiti was not decades old, a decade old or even even half a decade old. According to representatives of Facilities, the tunnels were completely repainted a little more than three years ago.
When he was researching his story, Mr.DiBlasi did e-mail out a variety of questions to members of the university staff about the tunnel re-painting. We endeavored to answer these questions as thoroughly and factually as possible. However, none of the questions submitted addressed what appears to have been a widely-held belief that the graffiti in the tunnels harkened back to generations of Wesleyan students. Mr. DiBlasi never asked how old the graffiti was or when the last time these tunnels had been painted. Nor did he state in his story the basis for his claim that the graffiti covered by the new paint was “decades” old.
It is incumbent on any reporter to get the most basic facts of a story right, especially a “fact” that purports to be one of the main pegs upon which a story is built.
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