The Wire Retracts Its Meta Stories ⇥ thewire.in

An un-bylined statement from the Wire:

Our investigation, which is ongoing, does not as yet allow us to take a conclusive view about the authenticity and bona fides of the sources with whom a member of our reporting team says he has been in touch over an extended period of time. However, certain discrepancies have emerged in the material used. These include the inability of our investigators to authenticate both the email purportedly sent from a*****@fb.com as well as the email purportedly received from Ujjwal Kumar (an expert cited in the reporting as having endorsed one of the findings, but who has, in fact, categorically denied sending such an email). As a result, The Wire believes it is appropriate to retract the stories.

Admitting that mistakes were made is a good way to rebuild trust with readers. A long way to fall from its earlier defiant statements, when the Wire doubled down on its reporting even after significant problems were raised.