This is a lesson to why press releases can be terrible sources of reliable information.
I received a press release a week ago from Kaplan, a business that prepares students for the LSATs. The release said the UW Law School was the 8th highest in the nation for the number of student applicants.
With the security threat to the school, I found this information particularly interesting, and I began to wonder if the school had seen a decrease in applicants, because of the security threat.
The threat I’m referring to is the report of graffiti that had a threatening message. Police haven’t released the actual threat, but they said it referred to Nazis and guns. Since the incident a UW Police Department officer has been guarding the entrance of the William H. Gates building, only letting in law students and staff.
So it wouldn’t be all too surprising if it’s affected enrollment.
The press release said that the most recent data showed that the law school has received 672 applicants. I went to the official law school Web site and discovered that they actually have received 2585 applicants for the 2007 school year, and have admitted 587 students.
The scary part was I was about to call the director of the school to inquire about this wonderfully false information. Checking facts really is important at all stages of the story.
Another good post. This is more like a “behind the scenes of the news” post, which one of the network news shows is now doing.
A couple of reminders:
–The law school is an “it,” not a “they.” “… and discovered that IT actually had ….”
–Use commas with numerals that have more than three digits (except years). 2,585 applicants.
++ (no human source)