Language

First Duty: Get the Story Right

Submitted November 27, 2006 - 12:23 pm by Al Giordano
I understand your concerns. I'd like to add another one that guides our work here.

The first duty of the journalist is not to get the story first, but to get the story right. There is something about street battles in Oaxaca that historically leads to many rumors flying. Last June 14, for example, when the state police invaded, at dawn, the striking teachers' encampment, virtually every other alternative media reported headlines about "7 deaths" or "9 deaths" or "11 deaths." We kept asking for the names of the dead. And when we quoted people making such claims we added, each time, "unconfirmed." (And, as we learned recently with another story, on the Viejo Velasco massacre in Chiapas, even having the names of the dead is no confirmation of a death: we published a front page correction the next day.)

It turned out that in all the violence of June 14 in Oaxaca, there was not a single death. Our reports were thus able to focus on what really did happen, without sensationalist distraction.

The other concern, always, is the safety of the reporters on the front lines. For us, Saturday night was spent lining up attorneys. One of our colleagues was trapped for hours inside the police circle. We had to be ready to go to night court and seek protective orders for that and any other colleague that might be among the many arrests. At times like that, you won't see me pressuring any colleague to rush a story. The first priority is the safety and freedom of our colleagues. The night ended up okay from that end: the colleague escaped to freedom.

Today you will be able to read more here about what really did happen. And unlike what you have read in virtually every other media, what you will read here is confirmed truth and facts.

Try to think of Authentic Journalism as a kind of journalistic zapatismo: not following the clock imposed by the media from above, but, rather, walking to our own rhythm. Looking below, not above, to know what the news really is. Yes, it is true that Narco News often gets the story fastest and first. But that is always secondary to the first duty of getting the story right. Street battles in Oaxaca don't lend themselves to easy reporting. And we're not content to simply repeat everything that is said over Radio APPO without first confirming the facts ourselves. Anyone can keep a running log of rumors. But our work is to figure out what really did happen. More to come on that today.

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