DEAR JOURNALISTS,

When writing a story that heavily relies on a document, or discusses the contents of a document, please,

ALWAYS LINK THE FULL DOCUMENT ITSELF
if it's in the public domain.

Footnotes, references, in the lede, in a callout box... PLEASE.

If you want people to trust what you're saying, providing any quotes or references to open source documents IN THEIR FULL CONTEXT is essential.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.

PLEASE?

But every article that references the Epstein indictment should, for instance, contain a link to THE EPSTEIN INDICTMENT.

Including court case numbers somewhere in the article would be useful too, especially in stories that deal with multiple suits and countersuits and....

Okay, thank you, and goodnight.

</rant>

[ also, I'm not talking about on Twitter, because ... Twitter. ]

[ long-form articles need references ]