Blogs and Web sites like myspace, thefacebook, xanga and others can be a great way to locate sources or gather story ideas. They usually are not a reliable source of facts.
However, in rare instances, quotes from these sites can be useful. Example: A student dies, and his family sets up an online message board where people can post memorial comments. A reporter wants to use a few of those quotes for her story.
What might work:
- Running several of the comments, without names, in a box with the story and listing the exact URL as the source. It's better to run these separate from the story, so you don't mix first-hand, attributed quotes in the story with unattributed stuff from a blog.
- Simply mentioning in the story that the bog is available if people want to post to it
(and give the addres).Cautions:
- Don't publish names of people who post to blogs, unless you verify them independently, because you don't know if those names are real.
- Attribute the quotes by giving the exact URL of the blog.
- Don't rely on blog postings for facts. But they can be used to give readers a feel for the emotion of an event.
- Don't run legally questionable or libelous material. If the Star publishes it in any form, we are responsible for it. When in doubt, don't use it.
Things to think about:
- Is it ever a good idea to run anonymous quotes? Does that weaken the Star's credibility, or even open the possibility of fraud?
- Could the reporter contact the people who posted blog comments, rather than simply quoting the blog?