On 4/7/08, Carl Beckhorn cbeckhorn@fastmail.fm wrote:
On Mon, Apr 07, 2008 at 06:18:16PM -0500, SlimVirgin wrote:
But we have no idea most of the time whether what our sources say is accurate. All we can do is try to make sure we use good sources; use in-line attribution wherever appropriate; and make sure our readers can trace our line of reasoning so they can judge it for themselves.
Proposal: An editor who has no idea whether what a source says is accurate really shouldn't be editing that article using that source.
That means we can never again cite the New York Times unless we've personally contacted the source to make sure he really did say X, and perhaps further, unless we've also checked out that not only did the source say it, but that he was right to say it.
Sarah