I discovered that I had dated the first thought of 2001 correctly then fell back to 00 without missing a beat. No matter how hard we work to be right, there is always a little voice that says we missed something somewhere. PR practitioners need to be more accurate than reporters because that is the way we build credibility with them. Some reporters are sloppy with facts, but we should never be.
Some reporters are obsessive about every last little detail right.
I'm not sure we have to go that far. But, whenever anyone else calls us, we should be right. There should be no doubt at the other end of the line that what we have said is factual and can be cross-checked. That is why when we don't know, we MUST say so. Making up a response is dangerous and speculation kills careers.