Tell It Like It Is Or Don't Tell It

I happened across this article today. Later, while reading the Silverman interview, I found myself thinking back to a quote in this Post article that had stuck out to me as a good example of bad journalism. I think that Silverman is right about the importance of verification as it pertains to a journalist's credibility, but he neglects another important aspect of reporting: source reliability.

Ensuring it is perhaps an even more difficult task than fact-checking and using your spell checker properly.

Here's the line I have a problem with:

It is common to find people of French Canadian descent to be related to large numbers of other French Canadians, including these notables,' said Child in a statement.

Let's look at this statement. What does it really say? From where I'm sitting, nothing at all. It's like saying "It's common to find people named MacDonald related to other people named MacDonald." In other words, a no-brainer.

If Christopher Child of the The New England Historic Genealogical Society means something more specific, he should say it. Instead, he gets quoted as an expert and doesn't give us any information we don't already know. That's not his fault.

I don't know if this comment was made in a press release, at a press conference, or in an exclusive interview. I do know that if I were the person writing this story, I'd want my source to elaborate. Here we have a story which really has little to no consequence on our lives, and yet it's out there. Instead of informing, it only leaves the reader with more questions - if he or she really stops to look at what is being said.

(The NEHGS study) found Illinois Senator Barack Obama, whose mother is from Kansas, can claim at least six U.S. presidents as distant cousins, including George W. Bush and his father, Gerald R. Ford, Lyndon B. Johnson, Harry S. Truman, and James Madison.

Okay. Amazing. This guy is related to no less than six US former presidents. How many more people are in this family tree? How many were postmen and axe murderers and Average Joes? How far back did researchers have to root around to establish these family ties? Perhaps most importantly, where can we see the research, if we are so inclined?

Oh, never mind any of that - Hillary is related to Angelina and Barack is related to Brad. Stop the presses.

I'm not saying that Child and the NEHGS aren't reliable sources. They probably are. But based on this anonymous Reuters reporter's choice of quotes, and apparent indifference to asking follow-up questions, we're left with too much information and not enough attribution. This type of sloppy reporting is why people don't trust journalists. We don't even know who wrote this article, so we can't be expected to take it as gospel. If the story is worth telling it must be given the consideration it deserves.