A to Z Challenge - C for Confirmation

Theme - journalism jargons

This is one of the most important tasks journalists are required to do. They are supposed to put in the public domain only information that has been verified to be correct.

The well-known adage is 'when in doubt, cut it out'. In fact, a lot of stuff that journalists get to know don't make it to print or airwaves because they can't be confirmed.

All that one hears may not be true. For example, at the scene of a crime, there will be a lot of theories and conjectures floating around. Even people who claim to be eyewitnesses, might not accurately recollect what they saw. There have been many instances when multiple witnesses have given inconsistent or even contradictory accounts.

HOW TO CONFIRM INFORMATION

That is a huge challenge. The more negative and damaging the information, the more difficult it is to confirm. It is usually senior officials, like directors, heads of departments, commissioners, ministers, etc who are approached for confirmation.

If journalists get to know that a prominent person is dead, they get confirmation from a senior hospital official or someone in the family of the deceased. The story will carry an attribution to the source of the information.

WHY CONFIRMATION IS DIFFICULT

People who are approached to confirm themselves might not be aware of what exactly happened -- they might be waiting for details to come in. So, they would not like to either confirm or deny. For example, in the case of an accident, for hours or even days, no one might know for sure what the death toll is.

It could be that officials who are in a position to confirm might not do so because they don't want to be seen as someone who confirmed the news. This happens in cases where there are allegations of impropriety against prominent personalities.

Then there are also instances when confirming news might boomerang on officials. So, to be safe, they won't talk.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND CONFIRMATION

A major problem with social media is that messages might not have been verified. They might be true or false. Institutional media (meaning, media organizations) are, as a part of the standard operating procedure, required to confirm news before it is put out.

Though there are many social media users who do verify information before putting it out, many might not do so; and even if they want to confirm, they might not be in a position to do it, unlike a professional journalist, who might have easier access to corridors of power and people in responsible positions.

(This post is a part of the "Blogging from A to Z Challenge April 2019".)