Verification

No one can argue against the importance of verification in journalism. Verification is how stories are corroborated. Verification is how we find the truth. Oftentimes sources have their own agenda. With verification, journalists can weed out the misinformation. Bill Kovach & Tom Rosenstiel state in their book Elements of Journalism that verification is the "beating heart of credible journalism in the public interest." There are several threats to verification in the journalism industry. Two of which are the pressure to publish news immediately (while it's still news) and the pressure to publish news that is already "out there." Both of these threats go directly against verification. One example of a verification dilemma could be when journalists encounter news of a story from a source that wants to be kept anonymous. This story may be hot news of a scandal in the White House. The source says you cannot use his name with the story. However, there are no other people that can corroborate what he is saying. What do you do? Granted, journalists are encouraged to verify all of their sources before publishing. This may mean that you can't run the story. Doesn't the public have a right to know what is going on? Should you simply run the story without any source? Journalists need to cover their bases. What if the source has a separate agenda other than the truth? What if he is trying to sabotage a government official and you help him do it? Journalism can be a sticky situation when it comes down to verification. My conclusion is better safe than sorry.