WPCNR'S MUCKRAKERS NOTEBOOK. February 11, 2008: The lack of guidelines for fledgling young reporters from the journalism schools today – that never teach the sad truth that the most respectable officials and leaders lie to people and reporters on an hourly basis – and those who think what they see on television and read in the mainstream press is how reporting should be done, WPCNR turns to The Muckraker’s Notebook which will bring the public some of the truisms and sayings by famous reporters and investigators of the past, not all of whom ever existed.
Today's nugget comes from the first fictional detective, whose cases, chronicled by Dr. John Watson, still rivet the reader today. He needs no introduction. Here is the famous detective on the art of detection:
" It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. "
Sherlock Holmes, from A Scandal in Bohemia
