Update on Supposed Errors in Delio’s Work
Hiawatha Bray of The Boston Globe and the Associated Press’ Ken Maguire update us about the vetting of Michelle Delio’s work in several publications, including MIT’s Technology Review. Her work came under criticism after Technology Review staff discovered a source she used had misrepresented himself to her. Bray tells us what other publications for which Delio wrote are doing to investigate her work and take action to either correct errors or notify readers that her work might be problematic.
Technology Review removed all of her articles from its Web site and put an editor’s note in their place.
InfoWorld has taken steps to change faulty articles. The piece Enterprise collaboration with blogs and wikis now has this disclaimer at the top in italics:
"This article has been modified from its original version. Certain quoted material has been removed because its veracity could not be confirmed."
Other articles of hers in that publication lack a disclaimer. Does that mean they’re fine or that no one has looked at them yet?
News librarians have expressed concerns that modifying stories after they’re printed changes the historical record. Finding a balance between leaving articles with possible errors in them, correcting mistakes, and informing readers about potential problems can be tricky. Would it have been better for InfoWorld to leave the questionable material in along with a note indicating its potential problem(s)?
