Last month, when The Seattle Times columnist Monica Guzman spoke to students at the Reynolds School of Journalism about the changing landscape of journalism, she mentioned that it’s not about who gets the story first anymore. It’s about who gets it wrong first.

The Nevada Sagebrush has been at fault for occasionally using incorrect information throughout the years, and we would like to take the time to address an issue that recently arose regarding our staff editorial from March 11.

There has been controversy over the term WASB (white Anglo-Saxon business major) that was used to describe current Associated Students of the University of Nevada (ASUN) president-elect Jake Pereira. Not only did the term offend some members of the student body, but The Nevada Sagebrush also made incorrect assumptions about Pereira by using it. There hasn’t been an ASUN president to whom this term applies for quite some time, since the last white business major presided over ASUN in the early 2000’s.

We therefore failed to acknowledge that ASUN has, in fact, had a diverse selection of presidents in terms of race and academic majors since then. The Nevada Sagebrush also made assumptions about Pereira’s ethnicity, for although he is white, he does not consider himself to be of Anglo-Saxon descent.

Additionally, in the recent housing guide, The Nevada Sagebrush published references to affiliations between UNR Residential Life and the nearby housing complexes that were incorrect. On our neighborhood profiles map, which was featured on page B8, we falsely listed Wolf Run Village as a “campus-run housing option,” the Sterling Sierra Apartments as “commissioned by campus housing” and The Highlands as being “somewhat of an extension of the dorms.”

Accountability is critical in times like these. In the current news climate, it can be incredibly easy to get something wrong and have it get blown out of proportion before the mistakes can be corrected. When 49ers quarterback and former Wolf Pack star Colin Kaepernick, as well as two other NFL players, were recently involved in false reports of sexual assault, the media outlets that associated their names with these serious allegations did an incredible disservice to the quarterback, as well as the reputations of all the individuals involved. According to a spokesperson from the Miami Police Department, “There’s no evidence of a crime or a sexual assault. This report is simply an incident report taken at the woman’s request… There are no specific allegations of wrongdoing.” Kaepernick has also defended himself through his own social media by stating that the charges that have been brought against him are “completely wrong.”

The Nevada Sagebrush also has the ability to make mistakes that can have a lasting negative impression. We are lucky in that we have a more personal relationship with our audience, and therefore we can fix our mistakes and apologize more effectively. Nonetheless, our words have power, and do have the capacity to harm our readers and subjects if we use them carelessly; therefore, by quickly and effectively acknowledging these mistakes, we hope to respectfully maintain and foster these ties with our community.

For that reason, being accountable and taking responsibility for reporting incorrect information is essential to the journalistic integrity of an organization. We hope to keep ours intact by doing so.

“The Nevada Sagebrush fixes mistakes. If you find an error, email cboline@sagebrush.unr.edu.”

The Nevada Sagebrush editorial staff can be reached at cboline@sagebrush.unr.edu.