This Should Not Be A Controversial Statement.

Media Matters has done a blog response to an article by the Wall Street Journal, highlighting a passage that they found objectionable. The article was about the serious problem of sexual assault on college campuses, but Media Matters' response is too indicative of the desire of some on the Left to demand that a valid and truthful side of this story not even be reported at all.

From Media Matters' blog post (emphasis original):

This Wall Street Journal Report Could Help Perpetuate The Myth Of Widespread False Rape Reports On College Campuses

[...]

WSJ: "A Growing Number Of Men Say Colleges Are Too Quick To Believe An Alleged Victim's Testimony." In a March 19 article, The Wall Street Journal reported that "more men" are fighting back against allegations of sexual assault on college campuses. The Journal acknowledged that the Education Department is investigating more than 100 colleges for mishandling women's accusations of sexual assault and said that "colleges have made it easier for female students to initiate actions against men." But the article said reports that 1 in 5 women will be the victim of sexual assault in college are "hotly debated" and claimed, "a growing number of men say colleges are too quick to believe an alleged victim's testimony." From the Journal (emphasis added):

This is the part of the article that they had no problem with:

In recent years, colleges have made it easier for female students to initiate actions against men they accuse of sexual assault.

In 2011, citing hotly debated statistics that about 1 in 5 women is a victim of "completed or attempted" sexual assault in college, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights set forth new procedures for schools to follow when handling sexual assault and harassment claims.

Among other things, the Education Department recommended that alleged victims be required to prove only that it was "more likely than not" the harassment or violence occurred to hold an accused responsible.

The department also suggested schools afford accusers the ability to appeal rulings that go against them.

The Education Department is investigating more than 100 colleges for allegedly mishandling women's accusations of sexual assault under Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972, federal law that bans sex discrimination in schools.

The efforts are long overdue, said Sofie Karasek, a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-founder of an advocacy group called End Rape on Campus. "Now survivors across the country are getting the space to hold their abusers accountable," she said.

And here's what Media Matters objected to:

But a growing number of men say colleges are too quick to believe an alleged victim's testimony and are investing too much authority in administrators who, they say, too often act as investigators, prosecutors and jurors.

"To a hammer, everything is a nail, and the men are the nails in these situations," said Justin Dillon, a lawyer in Washington, D.C., whose firm has filed several lawsuits on behalf of accused men.

They included, as they should, the point-of-view of sexual assault advocates. But that wasn't enough for Media Matters. They also had to exclude the position from a due process perspective. (To clarify, those two positions are not inconsistent at all.) Also, nowhere did the Journal say the false allegations of sexual assault are widespread. But any mention of them at all, and that there have been some serious breaches of due process of law as well, earned an objection from Media Matters. It shouldn't. We cannot ignore a valid and factual part of an issue just because it's not convenient. And I am very worried by the discouraging by some on the Left from even reporting this side at all. We should be seeking the full story. As Bob Costas said on Bill Maher's last show:

Why can’t people with common sense hold two truths in their head at the same time?

Doing so, as the Wall Street Journal did, should not be controversial.