Wired.com is underfire for being unable to confirm dozens of alleged sources used by one of their reporters. The story on E&P contains a quote by the reporter under investigation: Probe Can't Confirm Sources in Freelancer's Stories for 'Wired News': "'I don't understand why my credibility and career is now hanging solely on finding minor sources that contributed color quotes to stories I filed months and years ago,' she wrote. Delio said that among hundreds of articles she wrote for the organization, there 'isn't one story that contains fabricated news.'"

I find this to be highly revealing. She claims the whole thing is really about "color quotes" not about the truth of the story. That is, the stories are true but the color quotes are false so everything is ok. I think she's tipped her hand. She's really saying "Ok, so I fudged the supporting quotes but the story is true." This is half a step from Dan Rather style journalism. If your story is true you shouldn't have any problem getting quotes to support it! Jayson Blair, Stephen Glass, David Brock, Dan Rather the list keeps growing. It's no wonder newspaper circulation is declining and they're lying about it. We live in interesting times.

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