Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Anonymity does not engender truth

There isn't a single sentence in this story that contains new news and doesn't also contain the phrase "according to the source" or "the source said."

I'm not saying it's not true. I'm saying there are good reasons, as a reporter or news organization, not to print accusations based solely on the word of one anonymous person.

And Thayer Evans, who wrote the story, is not without bias:
So listen closely, Heisman voters: Do not vote for Newton.
Update: So.Much(anonymously sourced but hard to doubt).Smoke.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't care if Justin Houston started it. It must be true.