An editor asks by email a question I hear often as journalists address the challenges of digital journalism: “Is it better to be first, or be right?”
Three times recently, the editor said, his staff was beaten (not on breaking news), but the competition had major errors in its reports. “When we published, we got the stories right, though, again, not first,” the editor said.
I regard this as a false choice, but if you must present it that way, my answer is that you always want to be right. Accuracy is one of our highest values as journalists, and you don’t sacrifice accuracy for the sake of competition. (more…)
The Buttry Diary 