Independent sources, in journalism, criminal justice and general research, represent two or more people or organizations which attest to a given piece of information. For example, two people who witness a traffic accident first hand would be considered independent sources. If one person witnessed the accident and told the other one about it, then they would not be independent, since one would depend on the other for their information. If two witnesses to an event discuss what they saw before they are consulted and agree on a consistent story, they are also no longer independent.

Consulting multiple independent sources is a common technique for detecting errors and deception, as any divergances or contradicitons between statements would likely indicate one of these.

Famously, the New York Times's minimal standard for reporting a fact not otherwise attributed to a single speaker is that it be verified by at least two independent sources.

Circular reporting is a situation where multiple sources appear to be independent, but in reality originate from a single source. Because circular reporting can happen inadvertently in many situations, extra care must be taken to ensure that multiple sources actually are independent.

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