Getting it right on big stories

People in our community may be divided over the rape charges in Durham involving two Duke lacrosse players and a woman hired to dance for them, but many seem to agree on one point.

They're mad at the news media.

Complaints: Too much coverage, too prominent, too favorable to the prosecution, too easy on the defense, too hard on the lacrosse team, too quick to stereotype blacks, whites, rich people or all of Durham.

I'm collecting comments about The N&O's coverage, which also has been the focus of several print and online commentaries by public editor Ted Vaden.

Editors and reporters in our newsroom have discussed fairness, accuracy and appropriate play at every step. We're never perfect, and we've listened to the many critics who have complained by e-mail or phone or on our blogs.

We not only accept this kind of comment, we also invite it on our Web site and through the more traditional letters to the editor handled by the editorial page.

But our focus has been on journalism, not on trying to appease critics.

We broke the news March 24 that 45 Duke lacrosse players were being taken in for DNA tests in a rape investigation. Since then, we've focused on our fundamental missions of reporting, explaining and capturing community discussion, as we do on this page.

On a volatile story, with rumor being reported as fact in many Internet forums, we've stuck to our approach of avoiding unverified information provided by unidentified sources.

This has meant that we have been slower than electronic competitors to report some developments. But unlike many news outlets offering innuendo and fact side by side, we haven't put out bad information.

The N&O uses anonymous sources rarely and only when we can verify that the information we're presenting is accurate.

One fresh example is another competitive story, the search for a basketball coach at N.C. State.

While some Web and broadcast outlets have had to back away from erroneous reports in recent weeks, we broke the story Thursday of Sidney Lowe's hiring based on reporting that confirmed the information.

The situation met our criteria for using unidentified sources: The information was important, the sources were credible, we had multiple verifications and the world would know soon whether the report was accurate.

Media are a powerful force in our culture. It's fair to criticize; in fact, that criticism is essential to responsible journalism.

Any individual or organization that reports news -- including cable TV crime shows and Web outlets -- should be held accountable.

All I'd ask is that you distinguish among us: those who work to report responsibly from those who just let rumors fly.

In a recent note to the staff, I recalled that there used to be a sign in our newsroom that said, "Get it first, but get it right."

Today, that sign should say, "Get it first, AND get it right."