Principles of working with information from the TASS news agency
We continue to explore fact-checking in journalism in collaboration with one of the world’s leading news agencies. For guidance on how journalists should ensure the reliability of their materials, please refer to our previous article: “Practical approaches to fact-checking in journalism: reliability and accuracy”.
In this educational article, we’re going to share with you our basic principles for dealing with information of various types — from real news to fake ones.
Principles of working with information
A journalist should never forget that almost any information — especially from anonymous sources — is disseminated for a purpose, and not always an obvious one.
It is essential to do everything possible to uncover the motives of a source offering information under confidentiality, ensuring you are not used as a tool to advance someone else’s agenda. Never publish damaging information from an unnamed source targeting one side without rigorous verification.
For example, if a source from Company A claims that Company B is suffering huge losses, this should prompt a call to Company B to verify the claim — not immediate publication as news.
TASS does not allow itself to be used in “corporate wars”, where companies deliberately disseminate anonymized information to discredit competitors.
The same caution applies when an unnamed source from one government department criticizes a draft decision proposed by another. Such claims warrant reaching out to the other side for comment.
There may also be cases where newsmakers or their representatives approach journalists with sensitive or urgent information — but refuse to be named, requesting attribution like “TASS has learned”, “a TASS source says”, or “an informed source told TASS.”
Journalists must remember: if a source is unnamed, the Agency bears full responsibility for the accuracy of the published information.
Before proceeding, a journalist should ask: How will the Agency be affected if the source later retracts their statement? In such scenarios, the journalist does not act unilaterally but escalates the matter to their manager, who may elevate it further. The final decision hinges on:
- The topic’s sensitivity;
- The source’s reliability;
- Potential reputational risks to the Agency (i.e., your place of work).
A journalist must be able to distinguish genuine news hooks from fabricated ones, hidden advertising, and PR tactics. When uncertain, it is essential to conduct additional verification — scrutinizing the information’s source and assessing the potential news within its broader context.
Some stories lack a clear origin, such as social media discussions that spark public outcry. In these cases, a journalist should not simply report with a reference to a social media post. Instead, they must promptly seek comments from authoritative sources (e.g., relevant officials or agencies). If a ministry does not respond, the next step could be contacting a specialized public association or similar entity. This ensures a more credible basis for reporting than anonymous online discourse.
Article retraction
Nothing erodes a news agency’s authority faster than disseminating false information — especially when presented as breaking, urgent, or sensational news. Should erroneous information be published, we must issue a retraction without delay.
The retraction notice is distributed through the same channels as the original, inaccurate report, adhering to the Agency’s standardized format. Crucially, it must explicitly state the reason for the retraction.
TASS does not delete published messages from its feeds or from the website. In the event of a message with false information being released on a feed, a notice of retraction is issued to subscribers on the same feeds where the message with information that does not correspond to reality was released.
If the news is retracted and transmitted in a new version, then an explanation of the retraction is written and the message transmitted in the new version is given — a lead-in and a link.
Retraction of a message is an emergency that causes significant damage to the Agency’s reputation. An investigation is conducted for each case of retraction. If a message had to be retracted due to the fault of a TASS employee — the author or the publisher, then disciplinary measures are applied to him.
Article сorrection
If a mistake is made in a message published on the feed or on the website, then, regardless of the circumstances, we must correct it in accordance with the procedure established by the Agency. The mistake must be corrected in the edit, not in the extended version of the message. Therefore, it is prohibited to issue an edit without notes indicating that it is an edit.
An error cannot have a statute of limitations. If a factual error is found in a message from yesterday, the day before yesterday, or an even older message, it is necessary to provide an edit, indicating in the text the specific date of the release of the message with the error. In the service line, we provide a more detailed explanation indicating the exact — down to the second — time of the release of the original message with the error.
Our (and your) task is to provide subscribers and readers with quality information, so it is more important not to hide the fact of the error but to publicly acknowledge it and correct it.