Age of the amateur

In Britain, we tend to favour amateurism – and are suspicious of professionalism. Yet voices in the media have begun to talk about the need for greater rigour in news reporting. Here’s Will Hutton writing in The Observer:

Britain has never had the American tradition of fact-checking. Writing for American newspapers and magazines recently, I have been impressed by the insistence that every fact over there is sourced and checked; our reporting culture, on the other hand, is lackadaisical. Andrew Gilligan’s dismaying lack of supporting notes and willingness to push a story beyond its sourced limits to make a political point springs directly from this culture. Be sure he is not alone.