Last Updated: May 20, 1999
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"If you have an evil reporter — and I’ve only known two in 40 years
— that person will be able to lie and cheat in the newspaper. It’s possible
to catch carelessness, to catch inexperience, to catch laziness; it’s almost
impossible to catch evil until it has done great harm." — Michael Gartner,
editor and co-owner, The Tribune, Ames, Iowa
"A warning sign: The reporter/writer consistently has top-notch
stuff. Do you really think anybody can be (a) that good, and (b) that lucky?
What an idiot. Life doesn’t work like that. Even the top-notch reporters
have to take life as it is, or make it up." — Bill Simmons, political editor,
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock
"In terms of practical policy, [fact-checking] is pretty much impossible.
The sheer number of words, the sheer number of reporters per editor make
fact-checking nearly impossible. ... If you’re willing to lose $11 million
a year like The New Yorker, you can have fact-checkers." — Bruce DeSilva,
enterprise editor, The Associated Press
"If someone calls to challenge what’s been in a story, listen no matter
how much you may think of the writer and/or the story. And check out the
complaint. If you publish something that is wrong, you correct it. If you
publish something that is ‘assisted’ or ‘created,’ just admit it, set the
record straight for your readers and your staff. And move on." — Sharon
Rosenhause, managing editor/news, San Francisco Examiner
"Reporters need to understand how much editors rely on their integrity
and honesty. They not only hurt themselves when they practice that kind
of journalism, they hurt their colleagues as well." — Paul Anderson, associate
professor emeritus, University of Tennessee-Martin
"The best protection is the extent to which your hiring process finds
and attracts people of high integrity, and the extent to which you then
stress your commitment to core values of journalism. On the former point,
I believe that risk-taking in hiring is quite honorable except when you’re
taking a risk with someone whose basic integrity and honesty is questionable.
This is a character flaw for which a newsroom has no room." — Dennis Hetzel,
editor and publisher, York (Pa.) Daily Record
"Hiring good editors and paying them well is one strategy. Another important
one is to show that management supports independent, critical questioning
from whatever quarter. In practice, that is a very difficult thing to do.
It may mean, for example, that a managing editor or a city editor would
back a copy editor over a reporter in a given instance." — John Russial,
associate professor, University of Oregon
"Newsrooms are too vulnerable to guarantee truth all the time. We assign
people to naturally self-directed jobs. Then we grant them licenses to
practice creativity and aggression. This is all happening under deadline
pressure and sometimes with ambitious project mandates hanging overhead.
That’s mostly for the good in the competitive world of newspapers, but
it’s always volatile ... disaster is never far away." — Caesar Andrews,
editor, Gannett News Service
"One technique, if you are suspicious, is to eliminate all but the quotes
in a story to see whether they appear to have been written as a unit. Quotes
from real people generally are pretty messy, so editors might want to be
alert for the quotes that seem too perfect, for the person who matches
the theme of the story too well, for the comments that seem too good to
be true." — Paul K. Harral, ombudsman, Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram
"Tune out these comments when deciding whether to go with a story: ‘The
(competitor) is nosing around on this.’ ‘TV’s been there.’ ‘My source is
getting cold feet. We don’t want to lose her.’ ‘You’ve got to believe me.
Don’t you trust me?’ ‘The boss really wants this story in the paper.’ ‘We
don’t want to get beat on this. This is our story.’ ‘It’s been on the budget
for a week. We’ve got to get it in.’ ‘Man, I was counting on this for my
Sunday takeout.’ ‘Hurry up and ship it to the copy desk. They’re shorthanded.’
Finally, if you’re ever uncertain about a story, you can always take this
test: When your heart and mind are confused, always, always go with your
stomach. It never lies." —Tom Silvestri, director of news synergy and newsbank
editor, Media General Inc.
"You’ve got to be careful when a reporter falls in love with a story
— especially an investigative story. Love is blind. You see what you want
to see. ... We don't spot-check. We have 1,523 spot checkers doing it for
us (AP’s newspaper clients) — and they do. You put a story out there and
someone somewhere will have a connection to it — and they'll tell us. —
William Ahearn, executive editor, The Associated Press
"Staff members are instructed to send complaints about stories to (our
ombudsman). That kind of climate helps a little — helps maintain credibility
with readers and lets staff members know complaints will be investigated.
They know it’s not up to the staff to adjudicate complaints." — Joe Grimm,
recruiting and development editor, Detroit Free Press
"The most encouraging evidence from the incidents involving The Boston
Globe, CNN and the Cincinnati Enquirer — but not the New Republic — is
that the errors were confirmed by vigorous internal audits. And actions
were taken. This speaks well for the integrity of these news organizations
and for the values they represent." — Bob Giles, senior vice president
and executive director, Media Studies Center, New York
"Typical editing questions that get at preventing problems: ‘This doesn’t
sound right.’ ‘How do we know this is true?’ ‘Do we believe him?’
‘Are you sure? Really?’ ‘When in doubt, take it out.’ ‘This is bothering
me.’ ‘After we finish, can you make another call just to find out? I’ll
feel a lot better if you do. Thanks.’ " Michael Weinstein, senior editor,
The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer
