The Associated Press leaked details early of a freelance journalist writing for Wired News, whose dozens of sources could not be located. The New York City writer had quoted dozens of people who had common names and occupations, and lived in large metropolitan regions.
AP Technology reporter Ted Bridis quotes the writer defending herself: "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."
Update
Wired News posted its report at Wired News Releases Source Review . Summary:
The tech writer also wrote for InfoWorld and MIT Technology Review under two names. Of 700 stories written for Wired News, 160 were checked, and 24 found to have "missing" sources, of which four were deemed to be problematic.
And here is how Wired News is dealing with the problem:
"Wired News is not retracting any of these stories. Rather, we are appending notes to the stories, indicating what we have been unable to confirm about them and editing them, as noted, where appropriate. By keeping these stories posted and clearly marked, we hope that our readers can help identify any sources whom we cannot track down."
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