What my editor then told me � and I still find this questionable, though I don’t know of a better solution � was either to keep everything, every note, every transcript, in order and explicable, or keep nothing. As a consequence, of the hundreds of reporters’ notebooks I’ve filled over the years, I don’t have a single one.

I’ve heard that before, and I think your strategy is perhaps the best. Just chuck it and move on. Of course, I doubt the bigger papers would allow this type of strategy.

You know what they should do? Set up a newspaper wiki where people post their notes, and other fact check em. That way you can do things in real time and see who changed what story at what time. I’m sure newspapers are doing these already, but you usually have to retype your notes into a story anyway. Why not put it in wiki form?

What my editor then told me — and I still find this questionable, though I don’t know of a better solution — was either to keep everything, every note, every transcript, in order and explicable, or keep nothing. As a consequence, of the hundreds of reporters’ notebooks I’ve filled over the years, I don’t have a single one.