We’re just a humble blog. We don’t have fact checkers or James Earl Jones to tell people we’re the most trusted name in news. We do have some attractive contributors to be sure, but no one quite as pretty as Anderson Cooper. So, as if you couldn’t tell, we’re not CNN. We don’t have their vast resources or elaborate journalism training. Maybe that’s why the following excerpt from cnn.com, appearing in a story about an apology letter sent by one of the D.C. snipers to a victim, John Gaeta, confuses us:

Gaeta went to the hospital, where doctors told him he had dodged damage to his spine and arteries. He was released in about an hour, making him one of the more fortunate of the D.C. snipers’ 13 confirmed victims, at least 10 of whom died.

If we know how to read, there were 13 confirmed victims. That means there were 13 victims that we — and CNN — know were shot by the D.C. snipers. And of those 13, CNN tells us that at least 10 died. At least? Do we not know whether the other 3 victims lived or died? If they are confirmed victims, then the police know they were shot by the snipers. Obviously, there is some public record of whether the victims of the shootings lived or died. Did one of the other three confirmed victims die or not?

If a high-profile blogger wrote something as nonsensical as “of the D.C. snipers’ 13 confirmed victims, at least 10 of whom died,” we might guess what professional journalists would have to say about the quality of the content on blogs and the value of rigorous journalistic standards and editors. So who the hell is in charge over there at CNN? Where are the vaunted editors and fact checkers that supposedly make the news media so trustworthy?

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