I for one really appreciate John Redwood's candor in admitting his mistake and explaining why and how it happened.
John Redwood: This is a lesson learned, and rest assured we would never accept such information for a JW Survey article without obtaining confirmation from multiple sources ... is our practice.
Absolutely, using multiple sources to confirm information is important practice which all of us should follow. The more important the information and/or its consequences, the more important it is that we properly source it.
The problem here was that they relied on a single source which they believed to be reliable and so they got suckered.
John Redwood: Unfortunately, all of the information we received came to us within 24 hours or less of taping the Watchtower in Focus program, and we had little time to investigate that specific portion of detail related to the annual meeting.
Many journalists -- and regular people too -- have fallen into the trap of being in a rush to judgment and a bigger rush to publish. It's just asking for trouble.
But, hey: it happens!