Last month, Alan Judd, an investigative reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, penned an article headlined “UGA football program rallies when players accused of abusing women.” The article was written after a report surfaced that Georgia freshman defensive lineman Jamaal Jarrett had been questioned by police during his official visit regarding an allegation of sexual assault. The central premise was to take a substantive look at the culture of the team while using Jarrett to paint a broader picture of the legal issues the football program has been immersed in under coach Kirby Smart’s tenure.
On Tuesday, the University of Georgia sent a Demand for Retraction letter to the state’s largest newspaper. In a nine-page letter to the AJC, Michael M. Raeber, general counsel for the University of Georgia Athletic Association, writes that Judd’s story contains “reckless disregard for the truth and its imposition of a damaging narrative unsupported by the facts.”
Here is a larger excerpt of Raeber’s letter to the AJC via 247Sports:
“We have strongly disagreed with many aspects of Mr. Judd’s reporting over the last six months,” says Michael M. Raeber, general counsel for the University of Georgia Athletic Association, in a letter to the AJC. “But for an organization whose Newsroom Ethics Code (www.ajc.com/ethics-code/) states that “professional integrity is the cornerstone of our credibility,” this most recent article crossed a new line.
“Mr. Judd’s article is replete with errors, unsubstantiated allegations, innuendo, and possibly even fabrications. We do not write to you lightly; we are accustomed to the rough scrutiny of a robust press, and we appreciate its central importance in a free society. But this article stands out in its reckless disregard for the truth and its imposition of a damaging narrative unsupported by the facts. The AJC’s Newsroom Ethics Code states, “In our news reports, we do not lie; we do not fabricate, and we do not distort images or audio in a manner that is misleading.” Yet several parts of Mr. Judd’s article beg the very concerning conclusion that aspects of his reporting are indeed fabricated, whether knowingly or recklessly.”
Raeber writes that the headline of Judd’s article reads as if the University “actively supports” sexual misconduct. And with as much publicity as the article has received, Raeber requests that the AJC admit its errors and retracts the article altogether. At the same time, Georgia said that it made attempts to reach out to Judd for the full list of players that he identified as remaining with the team, despite accusations of violent encounters with women.
According to Georgia, Judd “refused” to provide a list of the 11 players identified, citing the AJC’s policy not to release “unpublished information.” Though, the school and Raeber maintain that they have not received a copy of such a policy and that the AJC and Judd are not being transparent or following their code of ethics.
“Even if such a policy exists, the AJC did publish this information,” Raeber said. “Mr. Judd published an entire article excoriating the UGA football program for ‘rallying’ on behalf of players accused of abusing women, primarily based on the assertion that ‘11 players’ remained on the team after being accused. The AJC Newsroom Ethics Code states that AJC is ‘transparent’ about its ‘newsgathering methods.’ But when asked simply to provide a list of the eleven names referenced in the article, Mr. Judd refused.”
Raeber maintained that the school is “confident that there are not 11 players” who met Judd’s claims. Instead, they accused Judd of “knowingly misrepresenting” content and arranging quotes from a police interview in such a way that plays into a false narrative.
Raeber’s letter also takes issue with other parts of Judd’s reporting, including a “high-speed chase through the Athens campus on Jan. 10” that the university says was not in Athens, not a known pursuit, and did not include lights or sirens, and “multiple instances of inaccurate reporting” on director of player support Bryant Gantt.
In demanding an “admission of error and a reaction of the article,” Raebver claims that this isn’t the first time that Judd has inaccurately reported on the University.
“The AJC prominently touts its ‘commitment to seek the truth and provide accountability of public institutions.’ It further proclaims: ‘As journalists, we must earn the trust of our audience every day. Our professional integrity is the cornerstone of our credibility. Fairness and transparency must always be the hallmarks of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s journalism.'”
“Mr. Judd’s most recent article falls far short of these standards. Absent the numerous and significant inaccuracies identified in this letter, there is simply no foundation for the central premise of the article – that the UGA football program actively supports players accused of abusing women. For the foregoing reasons, we demand the AJC’s prompt, clear, and conspicuous retraction of the article.”
[Atlanta Journal-Constitution via 247 Sports]
