ITS ESSENCE IS A DISCIPLINE OF VERIFICATION

3rd Element of Journalism

E S S E N C E

•The intrinsic or indispensable properties that serve to characterize or identify something.•The most important ingredient; the crucial element•The inherent, unchanging nature of a thing or class of things.

DISCIPLINE

•Training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental improvement.•Controlled behavior resulting from disciplinary training; self-control.•A set of rules or methods, as those regulating the practice of an individual or organization.

VERIFICATION

•The act of verifying or the state of being verified.•A confirmation of truth or authority.•A formal assertion of validity.

It’s Essence is a Discipline of Verification

Self-control through training is the most important

unchanging nature of the conformation of truth.

Journalist

Discipline

Verification

Verification

Trans

parency

Credibilit

y

JOURNALIST METHOD

O b j e c t i v i t y

But the need for professional method is not always fully recognized or refined. While journalism has developed various techniques for determining facts, for instance, it has done less to develop a system for testing the reliability of journalistic interpretation.

Five principles of a “Science of Reporting” that make up the

Discipline of Verification

• Do not add anything• Do not deceive • Be transparent• Do your own work.• Be humble.

TECHNIQUES OF VERIFICATION

• Editing skeptically• Checking for accuracy• Questioning all assumptions• Using anonymous sources

only with extreme caution

Editing Skeptically

• Editors have a special responsibility to question how the reporter knows the information he or she put in the story -- and to make sure any information that is unverified or based on assumptions is not disseminated to the public.

Checking for Accuracy

• The authors offer a checklist that includes not just ensuring the facts are correct but also includes asking such questions as "Will some people like this story more than they should?" and "Have all the stakeholders been given a chance to speak here?"

Questioning all Assumptions

• Journalists should methodically and systematically verify -- and then corroborate -- what people tell them.

Using Anonymous Sources only with Extreme Caution

• A couple of useful questions for reporters to ask themselves before promising a source confidentiality:

• How much direct knowledge does the source have about whatever he or she is telling you about?

• What motive might the source have for misleading you, hiding certain information or otherwise "spinning" the story to his or her advantage?

Source-Reporter Issues

• Choosing a source• Using anonymous sources• Selecting and using quotes• Maintaining a safe distance

Choosing a Source• A source should be knowledgeable about

the subject of the story. This knowledge is the basis of the source's credibility.

• But journalists also want a source who is articulate and interesting.

• And, of course, the source has to be available -- before the journalist's deadline.

• Moreover, the journalist has to find not just one source who meets all these criteria but multiple such sources. After all, the story has more than one side, right?

Using Anonymous Sources

• The discipline of verification is what distinguishes journalism from other forms of communication. But information is very difficult to verify if we don't know where it came from.

• Anonymous sources put the public at a disadvantage. Pertinent information needed to judge the veracity or reliability of information is unavailable.

• If an anonymous source says something negative, derogatory or just plain false about someone, that person has little or no recourse other than to offer an opposing view. And how do we, the citizens, then know who is telling the truth?

Using Anonymous Sources

• The fundamental ethical issue involved with the use of anonymous sources is fairness(and the related matter of conflicting loyalties).

• Should the reporter be fair to the source who has been promised anonymity? To the reader who needs to know the source of the information? If the interests of those parties conflict ... then what?

Selecting and using Quotes

• What information provided by a source should the journalist select to include in the story? (That is, what bits of the "selected truth" should become part of the "reported truth"?)

• How will the quotations obtained from the source be presented in the story?For instance ... should partial quotes (Merrill calls them "patches") be used? If so, how should the context of the complete quote be preserved? Should direct quotes ever be changed or "cleaned up"? What sorts of attribution verbs ("said" ... or "snarled"?) be provided?

Maintaining a Safe Distance

• They should not be too friendly; the danger is not only an actual conflict of interest but also the perception that one exists.

•  But they also should not unduly adversarial."There is no real reason why a source should be a journalist's enemy, and a reportorial demeanor that suggests that may well cause the source to be uncooperative"

Guidelines for Deciding when it might be OK to Promise a Source that He or She will not be identified

in a Story

• The material and the story are significant, and the source is vital to the story.

• You absolutely cannot persuade the source to speak "on the record.“

• You can corroborate the source's information, preferably with at least two other sources.* The material does not involve a personal attack on someone else.

• You can explain in your story why the source sought anonymity (if circumstances, particularly privacy considerations, permit).