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Now, as the investigation enters its second week, it appears that most of the initial reports, with all the accompanying hyperbole, were vastly overstated and in some cases purely false.
Journalists have a duty, especially where unnamed sources provide the attribution for serious allegations of a criminal nature, to be as sure as they can possibly be that the reports are accurate. Reputations are at stake. The victims of highly publicized, erroneous press reports may be harmed for life by those stories.
Of course there is a place for those anonymous sources. One recent example of their use is in the still-unfolding Iran/Contra scandal in Washington. There the press took a bashing for several weeks before the veracity of their initial accounts was finally acknowledged.
That was an example of the press at its best, reporting to the American people about a matter of national importance which they deserved to know about. The current story, unfortunately, shows a much less flattering picture of the Fourth Estate.
The lives of very private people have been invaded by reporters whose only interest, at times, seemed to be getting a more sensational story than their competitors. In the process, thought for the feelings of those whose names and reputations were dragged through the mud seemed to be lost.
Often, opinion polls put journalists at the bottom of ratings of professions in terms of respect. Only by behaving more responsibly can journalists expect that opinion to change.
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