[WikiEN-l] Baltimore Sun on sourcing

[David Gerard]

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/mcintyre/blog/2007/10/prone_to_error.html

Quality of the support. Who or what actually backs up the source? Is
the person a figure of credibility? Does the person verifying the
source have an interest in the statement? Have reliable reference
works been cited? Better not mention Wikipedia.

Copy editors as well as reporters live by the motto of the Chicago's
City News Bureau: IF YOUR MOTHER SAYS SHE LOVES YOU, CHECK IT OUT.

Tom French, a reporter at the St. Petersburg Times with a national
reputation, makes it his practice to go over the final draft of each
story he writers, marking each statement of fact and confirming to his
own satisfaction that he can vouch for the accuracy of each one.


- d.