This isn't a new observation, and as a few people have pointed out in this thread, some of the more digitally-aware news organizations are working on this probl

This isn't a new observation, and as a few people have pointed out in this thread, some of the more digitally-aware news organizations are working on this problem actively. The Knight News Challenge gave out grants this year for people to tackle the problem of verification and trust in online news, and I met someone from Mother Jones who was working on a system for documenting primary sources. I also gave a talk last year proposing a standards-based solution for this at a journalism/tech conference in Philadelphia. My thoughts about it are here: http://beatpanda.co.cc/blog/2011/01/31/show-your-work-filling-in-the-holes-in-online-news-reporting/ http://beatpanda.co.cc/blog/2011/01/31/show-your-work-fillin... More importantly though, I'm seeing a lot of potential customers for disruptive news startups right here in this thread. Look at how many people don't trust the media. The challenge, if you want to make paying customers out of these doubters, is to not only deliver the news, but to give people a reason to trust what you're saying. Journalists showing their work would be a good first step towards that.