4.4 News Information through Direct and Indirect Source

The direct source: the journalist's own observation and collection — the eyewitness report; the interview (on the record, on background, off the record — the attribution's graduated agreements); the press conference; the official record obtained by request (the RTI application — Unit 2.3); the court and parliament's proceedings (the fair-report privilege, Unit 2.6). The indirect source: the second-hand flow — other media's reports (the wire, the aggregation — attribution's duty); the documents leaked (the confidential source, 4.3); the tips and the social- media feed (the unverified's ocean); the hearsay chains. The legal-and-ethical grading: Source type Reliability duty Liability face Direct observation Highest verification (the reporter saw it) The reporter's direct liability for the published account On-record interview The attribution's accuracy; the context's fidelity Misquotation as defamation; the recording's privacy limits Document (official/leaked) Authenticity's verification; the classification check (Unit 6!) Publishing classified matter's offences; stolen documents' handling Other media's report The credit (plagiarism's bar); the cross-check before republication Republication of defamation = publication of it (the repetition rule — repeating another's libel is your libel) Social media/tips The classic verification duty — the fake's era The viral falsehood's amplification liability The repetition rule (the exam's one-liner): the publisher of another's defamatory statement publishes the defamation — the "I was only quoting" defence fails; the indirect source carries the direct liability. Exam…