Strib editor ‘embarrassed,’ but no correction on Bachmann cap-and-trade error

In her Apr. 8 Star Tribune opinion piece, Rep. Michele Bachmann stated that President Barack Obama’s cap-and-trade plan would increase energy costs for American households by more than $3,100 a year — a claim that had already been debunked by the MIT professor whose research Bachmann was citing. But the Strib ran the piece anyway, drawing calls for a correction from MSNBC’S Rachel Maddow and a stern letter to the editor setting the record straight in the next day’s issue. While the paper hasn’t run that correction, op-ed editor Eric Ringham has told ThinkProgress’ Wonk Room that he’s “embarrassed to have let [Bachmann's assertion] go unchallenged.”

Ringham told The Wonk Room that  it’s “an uncomfortable role” for an editor to run corrections after a column is published. “I’m not equipped – or really inclined – to go, after the fact, probing someone’s assertions,” he said. ThinkProgress writes:

Ringham does try to do some fact-checking ahead of time: “What we do is check the facts that smell. This one didn’t to me.” He considers the strongly worded letter to the editor as a sufficient response, because: “The best remedy to offensive speech is more speech.” The policy that he follows as an opinion page editor is that “sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

“You can rest assured this study is never going to be represented in the paper again,” Ringham concluded, “without confirmation it’s being accurately portrayed.”