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> Give me something that qualifies your anonymous remarks or its not worth anything to me, its just he said she said.

This is where journalistic reputation comes in. Do you trust the journalistic entity providing the story? Do they have a history of being correct? Has information from anonymous sources in other stories proven to be true?

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I don't go by that, it sounds like a recipe for disaster, too many stories propagated by major news orgs that were later retracted over the years.

Such stories are notable and egregious because they're rare. They definitely do happen -- the NYT carrying water for Bush's Iraq war agenda to preserve access particularly bothers me. Perhaps a small number of such events are "too many", but they aren't common in reputable media.

Right. Scooter Libby portrayed as a “Hill staffer”.

> the NYT carrying water for Bush's Iraq war agenda to preserve access

Judith Miller was not a politically neutral journalist trying to preserve access, she was a deeply, actively involved long-time Iraq hawk doing propaganda for her ideological faction.

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