Last week, for the very first time in my career, I published an article that I retracted.
Within hours of publishing the article on The Columbusite, it was brought to our attention that some of the content in the article was received as offensive. It never occurred to me that it would be encountered as such, but it was. I quickly understood why when others kindly offered their perspective to me from afar.
I will remain forever grateful to those that reached out for their honesty, grace, and kindness to our team as we worked to understand and address the issue as quickly as possible. Ultimately, we decided the best course of action was to retract the article altogether.
The trust of our readers and our reputation as a publication of integrity are of the utmost importance to our entire team. Our mission at The Columbusite is to provide positive, accessible, and diverse information on local arts & culture.
Our team actively seeks ways to serve as advocates for our creative community, and we take our mission very seriously. This is why, as Editor-in-Chief, I have chosen to publicly acknowledge this pivotal moment in the life of our publication.
My team and I remain committed and eager to learn, grow, and work to understand how to best serve our expanding audience -- both as individuals and as a whole. We’re committed to you -- all of you. Even, and especially when it means admitting fault, taking action to make things right, and working to move forward by learning how to serve you better everyday.
Ever onward, together.
There is much more work to be done.
Carrie Beth Wallace
Founder, Editor-in-Chief
The Columbusite