Truth = Responsibility

Bloggers. Reporters. Newswriters. Columnists.
We are human. We make mistakes. Sometimes information we gather is false or partially incorrect. There are a few bad apples like Cooke, Glass and Blair, but for the most part reporters and newswriters use little formulas they've developed to ensure that their aims are true.

News and political Bloggers may be a little less prone to run through a strict fact-checking process. Columnists are expected to inject commentary/opinion from time to time. Best intentions are sometimes not always met. Case in point, my May 5th post on Lindane was on the mark until I heard from the woman central to the story. The wording of the newspaper article I used as the source for my post led me to draw conclusions that turned out to be false. It's relatively easy for a blogger or a columnist to offer a retraction. It's much harder for a Newsweek, or a New Republic or a New York Times.

Blogger/columnist/author Michelle Malkin is mentioned in the May 15 Seattle Times Opinion blog. She made a retraction regarding information in ", In Defense of Internment," her most recent book. That's fine. Malkin seems to have no bones about making a retraction or offering an apology if it is deserved. And that is as it should be. Bloggers take note. We come under fire because the delicate balance, the fine line between fact and opinion can easily be smudged when presented in weblog format. Perhaps the solution here is to make certain readers aren't susceptible to interpreting opinion as fact. And stand ready to make a retraction or apologize when such action is warranted.

Just prior to posting this, I noticed Michelle Malkin has already commented on the Seattle Times Opinion Blog article. (Here)