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May 17, 2005
Burn the Source
When I was in college, I worked at the student newspaper on campus. We got a tip on a 'great story' from a source that wanted to remain anonymous. Turns out the story was too good to be true. Upon finding out the source had lied to us, the editoral staff made a decision - we revealed the source and the information he gave us and labeled it as false.
The guy was upset, but the newspaper retained its credibility. Well, as much credibility as a student newspaper has, anyway.
Reporters like to make much of the fact that journalists never reveal sources. Normally, this is a commendable practice. If you have a source revealing verifiably good material, then you should do anything you can to protect that person's identity. However, that should only last as long as the source doesn't betray your trust. The minute that source lies to you, his or her identity should be revealed when questions are asked about where the information was obtained.
Reporters are under no obligation to protect liars.
Michael Isikoff and John Berry should keep this in mind as the controversy over the false "Koran flushing" story grows. Issuing a retraction is a good step toward restoring Newsweek's credibility, but it won't end the debate over why these two reporters ran with a questionable story. Finding out who the source was will tell us whether Newsweek was right to trust the source, or will reveal the magazine's lack of journalistic ethics.
Burn the source.
Posted by slublog at May 17, 2005 12:05 AM
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