Comments on: Advice for someone with a big story, but no evidence http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2007/10/30/advice-for-someone-with-a-big-story-but-no-evidence/ A conversation. Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:45:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Nick Booth http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2007/10/30/advice-for-someone-with-a-big-story-but-no-evidence/#comment-3246 Nick Booth Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:36:22 +0000 http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2007/10/30/advice-for-someone-with-a-big-story-but-no-evidence/#comment-3246 If your correspondent is the key witness their starting point could be to write down what they saw (their evidence) and approach a lawyer to set it down as an avidavit. That of course does not prevent what they say being libellous - yet it may boost the confidence of any journalist they approach. As Bas suggests - if they are the only evidence - their case is may be explosive but based entirely on their credibility versus the credibility of those they accuse. If your correspondent is the key witness their starting point could be to write down what they saw (their evidence) and approach a lawyer to set it down as an avidavit.

That of course does not prevent what they say being libellous – yet it may boost the confidence of any journalist they approach.
As Bas suggests – if they are the only evidence – their case is may be explosive but based entirely on their credibility versus the credibility of those they accuse.

]]> By: Bas Timmers http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2007/10/30/advice-for-someone-with-a-big-story-but-no-evidence/#comment-3245 Bas Timmers Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:54:06 +0000 http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2007/10/30/advice-for-someone-with-a-big-story-but-no-evidence/#comment-3245 Extremely difficult issue. If there were other people at the occasion, approach them as a witness. But probably that isn't the case. I would then firstly approach a blogger that is a specialist in the subject at hand and make the deal to publish together, at the same time, if evidence is found. If this isn't an option as well, find a journalist of whom you suspect he has the proper contacts to confirm the story. Extremely difficult issue. If there were other people at the occasion, approach them as a witness. But probably that isn’t the case. I would then firstly approach a blogger that is a specialist in the subject at hand and make the deal to publish together, at the same time, if evidence is found. If this isn’t an option as well, find a journalist of whom you suspect he has the proper contacts to confirm the story.

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