1. Slate should not have either commissioned a lawyer who has had financial dealings with the company [I owe Ben Sheffner an apology; the wording here wasn't clear enough to describe the relevant work Marshall and Chang noted he'd done with Warner.] Shante allegedly fought with over her contract to write a piece about the issue, or accepted it from that source if he pitched it. Given that they did, it was a substantial problem that a disclaimer about Sheffner's job did not appear in the early paragraphs in the story, and only appears in his biography at the end of the story.
2. That said, Marshall and Chang make the very strange claim that because Shante has insisted that her educational history is what it is that there must be some sort of truth to it. This is a pretty absurd statement: "But according to her, Shante has received her BA and MA degrees. Her passionate message in her talks to hip-hop youths across the country is about the importance of education. Clearly much more of the story here is begging to be told." Conviction is proof of absolutely nothing.
3. Marshall and Chang's best argument is that Shante could have attended school under a different name (she claims she did so because she was trying to avoid a domestic abuser). But according to the Post correction, that argument doesn't wash either: "Cornell University has told us that Shante did not receive any degree from it under either her birth or stage name....Numerous e-mail and telephone inquiries by the freelance reporter to Marymount during the preparation of the article to confirm Shante's account were not responded to....When the reporter contacted Warner Brothers Records about the contract before the article, its only response was that it was having difficulty finding someone within the company who could 'talk eloquently' about it." In other words, neither the freelancer who wrote the original Daily News piece, nor the Slate freelancer who fisked it, did their job entirely or correctly. The original piece should never have been published.
I understand the desire to believe Roxanne Shante. The story she's sold to folks is a great one. But, it matters that it's true. If she's treating folks without proper certification and education, she could be doing them substantial harm. If she's selling teenagers a lie as inspiration, it doesn't actually offer them a viable path to educational success. Truth has a different weight than fiction; they're not simple substitutes.