The Wire firmly rejects the claim that we published unverified “rumors.” This accusation is both misleading and unfounded. Recent criticisms of The Wire’s reporting misrepresent both our journalistic process and the facts of the article in question. As a publication committed to ethical reporting, The Wire stands by the accuracy of our article and the credibility of our sources. At the heart of this issue is a mischaracterization of our reporting—one that ignores the thorough process behind our work and the legitimacy of our sources. 

While we cannot provide information that would reveal the identity of the anonymous source cited in the article under the pseudonym Eliza, we can confirm that this source has intimate knowledge of and involvement with PPGA to the extent that we did not find it necessary to contact an additional PPGA source. We concede that their relationship with PPGA should have been more explicitly stated in the article to avoid conflating the work of SVP with the work of PPGA. Nevertheless, the statements that PPGA Leadership calls rumors and false allegations in their letter were made by a source closely tied to PPGA who has since reaffirmed their statements. 

Furthermore, anonymous sources are a longstanding and essential component of investigative journalism. They allow individuals to share critical information without fear of retaliation. In this case, we determined that protecting our source’s anonymity was necessary and in the best interest of ethical reporting. At the same time, we took careful steps to verify the legitimacy of their claims. 

The quote PPGA Leadership uses in their letter implies that the allegations were made by The Wire itself. However, a full reading of the sentence clearly shows that the allegations were paraphrased from a source: “Eliza,* a student organizer and SVP member alleged that, despite urgent student demands for free STD testing, the Health Center initially resisted, forcing the Planned Parenthood Generation Action (PPGA) club to deplete its budget and advocate tirelessly to persuade director Laura Norris to allow chlamydia and gonorrhea testing.” 

This paraphrasing is reinforced through multiple direct quotes from the source. Again, our source has reaffirmed their statements. 

PPGA Leadership also cites an email exchange between The Wire and Welty Health Center Head Nurse Laura Norris to argue that our reporting was unethical because it did not align with her statements. This belies a fundamental misunderstanding of journalistic ethics. Laura Norris was given the opportunity to respond to allegations made against her, and her responses are included in the article. However, The Wire does not suppress reliable information based on a single source’s protest; doing so would violate the ethics of journalism. 

The Wire welcomes any questions or concerns about our reporting, but we will not tolerate harassment, personal attacks, or bad-faith criticisms intended to undermine our journalists. We are committed to fair and accurate reporting and encourage constructive dialogue with our readers. 

*Sebastian Vera Cuevas serves on both the editorial board of the Wire and the leadership of PPGA. He recused himself of all involvement with either party in relation to this issue.

PPGA’s Letter to the Editor can be found here.