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by ubuntuftw 5552 days ago
Former TV news person here.

While I agree with you on your first point (that the reporter shouldn't have to use the word "allegedly" if he/she can confirm the man was charged), personally, I think using allegedly in the sentence about the files being knocked out is warranted. "The data breach" is referring to the data breach the man *allegedly carried out.

TV news reporters != attorneys. So when in doubt, attribution is your best friend.
1 comments
pbhjpbhj 5551 days ago
The data breach he allegedly carried out is reported as a known quantity. The only allegation that needs mitigating is that it was this person that carried it out. If one is unsure of the details then it would be "reportedly" or an "unconfirmed source stated" or similar, no?

Thanks for your viewpoint though.

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ubuntuftw 5551 days ago
The problem is that the reporter doesn't know that the details of the breach mentioned in this article are facts. The figures, that there were 6,480 files totaling 300 GB of data likely came from the prosecution. So the reporter needs to get himself off the hook and either attribute it ("the prosecution says") or use words like "allegedly," "reportedly," etc.
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