I am a former editor (newspapers and magazines) and now work in tech. No reputable media outlet that I know of would permit prior review -- that is, allowing a

I am a former editor (newspapers and magazines) and now work in tech. No reputable media outlet that I know of would permit prior review -- that is, allowing a source to see a story before it's published. And indeed, doing so could get a reporter in very hot water, if not fired. So how do reporters, editors, and media outlets make sure that they get their facts right? By doing some of the things suggested -- confirming statements of fact, asking for clarification, and sometimes repeating back a short quote to make sure they haven't misheard anything. But to allow a source to read the whole thing before publication goes way beyond confirming statements of fact. At the first magazine I worked at, I had the liberty of being able to call up sources as I was working on a piece. I would typically pick out any statements of fact that they had made during our interviews and restate the fact, asking them to confirm each statement. There are typically two kinds of objections, and you don't hear either of them very frequently. One is "that's factually inaccurate." Those are the easiest to clear up. The other is, "I never said that!" That's generally not an objection to a statement of fact; it's an objection to a statement of opinion that the person regrets making, or a lie that they have been caught in. I can remember one time that I had a disputed quote on a cassette recorder; we ran with it. Another time, I had only my handwritten notes, and we decided it wasn't worth the risk. As for this particular blog post, anytime I hear someone accuse a scribe of slandering them or a television/radio reporter of libeling them, I take their accusation with a grain of salt. If you don't know the difference between slander and libel, you probably don't know what constitutes either.