Daily Archives: May 18, 2005

Some people have high expectations.
bq.The Periscope item in the May 9th issue of Newsweek is a creature from an earlier climate of credibility: when a single-source story was good enough; when anonymous was okay as long as you trusted “your guy” at the Pentagon or the DA; when the consequences of being wrong were not as great, as instant, or as global; when the game of being first – which always meant more to journalists than anyone else – could go on as if it had intrinsic value to the public. – Jay Rosen Some have low.
bq.I have a suggestion. Why don’t we immediately assume that all press reports are at least as thinly sourced as the Newsweek story, and not make a big deal of it when we discover that one is. Instead, let’s applaud the pros when they show evidence of diligence, multiple sourcing, and respect for what actually happened instead of what they think their editors will buy and what their readers will understand. – Dave Winer Some think they have no responsibility to get anything correct.
bq.At present, I have a few thoughts I can certainly not prove, but the gaffe over the Michael Isikoff story in Newsweek concerning the Koran and the toilet is redolent with bad odor. Who, indeed, was Isikoff’s supposedly reliable Pentagon source? One’s counter-espionage hackles rise. If you want to discredit a Dan Rather or a Newsweek crew, just feed them false information from a hitherto reliable source. You learn that in Intelligence 101A. – Norman Mailer Yet most all of us can agree in one area.
bq.The survey showed that 74% of journalists and 89% of non-journalists said one should question the accuracy of news stories that rely on anonymous sources. – Joe Strupp And just for the record, while Norman Mailer is concerned about which “side” benefited, let us remember that 17 people died.