An interesting episode is chronicled at USS Neverdock. Marc has been hot on the trail of peace activist Jo Wilding as she gallivants round Fallujah in search of anti-US propaganda. Previously, an article used her as a source for accusations that US troops fired on ambulances in Fallujah, and Marc pursued the BBC with e-mails pointing out Ms Wilding's background as 'a well known anti-War activist that was once arrested for attacking Tony Blair.'

This time it was an e-mail she sent to the BBC that was used to 'kick off' a feedback article, inviting readers to send in descriptions of their experiences relating to Iraq. It's clear that Wilding has been deliberately targeting the BBC as a mouthpiece for her interests. Marc chased them about it, and finally an e-mail came back saying they had withdrawn the e-mail and that Wilding's background 'had not been made clear' (as though that was not their job)- this despite much previous correspondence from Marc Landers over the previous incident. The BBC journalist who wrote to Marc made a fine apology, but what can you say about editorial procedures that don't bother to check the background of people making radical claims, require readers to do their research for them, don't disseminate information amongst their staff about prominent but 'risky' sources, and don't make it clear when a source is identified as having possible ulterior motives? You can say that that editorial procedure turns a blind eye to problematic sources when those sources say what they want and expect to hear.