Editor at U. of Hawaii Student Paper Is Said to Have Fabricated 21 Sources

The University of Hawaii-Manoa’s student newspaper, Ka Leo, ran a 27-item correction page on Wednesday, listing spurious sources among other errors said to have been committed by the paper’s former news editor.

The university has confirmed that from January 2008 to May 2009, the editor, Kris DeRego, made up the names of 21 sources in his articles and quoted eight people identified as students who were not enrolled at the time the articles were published.

While most of the articles listed on the correction page describe minor campus-life issues, one story — about the university’s presidential finalists — includes “candid” quotes from nonstudents about what officials were looking for in a president, Pacific Business News reported.

Mr. DeRego, who is 26, no longer works at Ka Leo and could not be reached for comment by Pacific Business News. As a result of his fabrications, the student newspaper, with a circulation of 10,000, now requires all reporters to provide e-mail addresses and telephone numbers of sources who are quoted. —Ashley C. Killough

Update (6/26): Mr. DeRego has issued a written statement denying that he fabricated any sources or quotations during his time at Ka Leo, according to today’s Honolulu Advertiser. In the statement, he said that the articles in question had been “adulterated during the copy [editing] process — a problem encountered by other staff members working at Ka Leo.” The newspaper’s adviser, Jay Hartwell, said no other reporters had made such a complaint before.