"News"papers?

Porphyrogenitus is wondering just how much we can trust newspapers these days:

I am starting to wonder just how much of what we were told in the Newspapers of Record just wasn't so. Actually, I'm wondering less and less: the answer is this isn't very new. People are just more aware of it now, and the Real Reporters© find this turn of events unbecoming.

I'm not surprised at all. Over the years, I have found that newspaper reports of incidents of which I have direct knowledge read nothing like what I know to be true from having witnessed it first hand. And the few times I have been interviewed, the quotes bore very little resemblance to what I actually said. The sports sections are different, but these are generally reports of events with thousands of witnesses, many of whom will be reading the reports. Sportswriters can't afford to deviate too far from the truth. Not so with "news" reports which may be the only information the reader has on the subject.

As a result, I don't read newspapers for news. I read the sports and the comics, and use the rest of the paper to clean the barbeque grill.