The following sentence appears in a lead “Letters” section of the Intelligencer Journal New Era:
“It is documented that the Occupy movement has been involved in crimes running the gauntlet from rape and robbery, to murder and mayhem.”
WATCHDOG: We would be conscience ridden by publishing that an assertion about rape and murder “is documented” when we suspect it is incorrect. We would publish it if the writer had said “I believe the Occupy movement has been involved in crimes running the gauntlet from rape and robbery, to murder and mayhem.”
We won’t harrumph over this because it is a close call, but our thinking is if someone wants to cite authority (“It is documented”) then let them provide a reference so the reader can check on their own. Let the reader judge the reliability of the source, if there as one.
We would simply delete “It is documented” with … and publish the rest of the letter. It is a free country, even for ignoramuses.
In the words of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, “People are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.”
