I'd love to see more linking to primary sources in news stories. Academic writing normally has lots of references that allow you to follow things for yourself.

I'd love to see more linking to primary sources in news stories. Academic writing normally has lots of references that allow you to follow things for yourself. It's understandable that newspapers wouldn't want their stories to be 30% references, and it seems that many major news sources write their online stories in the same way they would write newspaper stories, but on the internet it's actually quite possible to provide all kinds of extra detail, such as notes from the fact checkers, external references that corroborate or contest, relevant reference material, documents, perhaps even links to summaries of digested information where it wouldn't be ok to publish the raw details. On the web, stories can still be quick and easy to read for those that want that, while providing a huge wealth of information for those that want more background or a better understanding of where a story came from. I like the slogan 'show your working', I just think that it can be done in an even more radical way online than even this article suggests (and might also make people more prepared to pay for the work, when they can see what they're getting for their money).