Parsing fact and rumor

OUR OPINION
Published: July 26, 2008

Newspapers are meant to be bastions of fact in a world often swayed by rumor and innuendo.

Toward that end, we do our best to take what information we can gather from the community — including rumor and innuendo — and find out the truth of what is going on.

Sometimes that “truth” makes it into our newspaper in the form of articles. Sometimes, the “truth” cannot be confirmed or determined, in which case our response might be silence.

This is what a responsible newspaper does. It reports on what it can confirm and leaves aside those stories which remain in the realm of speculation.

People in the community sometimes hear about and talk about things, which they hope to see our newspaper report on. To the best of our ability, we try to do this, but sometimes we have to wait until
more information is forthcoming.

So, if you, the readers, hear about stories that you think we should be covering, please continue to inform us about them. But understand that we will not always be able to report on what you hear, even if
you are sure that it is true.

As a newspaper we must hold ourselves to the highest standard of accuracy. That means that unless we are sure that something is happening, we try not to comment on it.

Do not take our silence as evidence of laziness or ignorance. We are paying attention and when we know something, you will know something.