The importance of provenance

News, like art, requires provenance.

I tweeted that today, joining in a conversation between Dan Gillmor and Jay Rosen as they tried to understand how the Washington Post could quote only unnamed complainers in its McChrystal story. Tweeted Jay: "We're supposed to trust it because the Washington Post ran it. And that's the problem. It gives us no other grounding for trust." In the Post's view, then, its brand provided all the provenance needed: it was the source for trust. But in our view...