Former Wisconsin State Journal reporter Audrey Korte says she takes full responsibility for her story’s ‘multiple factual inaccuracies.’
Audrey Korte had been with the Wisconsin State Journal for just a couple of months when summer vacations in the newsroom started piling up. Eager to be accommodating and productive, she agreed to cover a story for a colleague who was leaving on a mid-July break. The assignment was to report on the proposals that had been submitted to the city of Madison for the redevelopment of the Brayton Lot, a downtown Madison parcel on the 300 block of East Washington Avenue. As the last large undeveloped block in downtown Madison, many believe the project could help address the city’s housing shortage.
The story Korte ultimately submitted was published online at madison.com and across the top of the front page of the Sunday, July 13, issue of the Wisconsin State Journal. It contained several factual errors and was ultimately pulled from the site on Wednesday, July 16. A re-reported story was published on Thursday, July 17, with an editor’s note explaining that the original story “contained incorrect information and quotes that were created by an unauthorized use of AI, which does not adhere to the Wisconsin State Journal’s editorial or ethical standards.” Korte says she was fired the same day by executive editor Kelly Lecker, who called her on the phone with someone from human resources on the line…