Circular reporting

Common card · No. 228263

Circular reporting, or false confirmation, is a situation in source criticism where a piece of information appears to come from multiple independent sources, but in reality comes from only one source. In many cases, the problem happens mistakenly through sloppy reporting or intelligence-gathering. However, the situation can also be intentionally contrived by the source or reporter as a way of reinforcing the widespread belief in its information. Circular reporting occurs in a variety of fields, including intelligence gathering, journalism, and scholarly research. The case of the 2002 Niger uranium forgeries was a classic instance of circular reporting by intelligence agencies.

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