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Various major US news outlets are echoing a Huffington Post article titled "Rick Perry's College Transcript: A Lot Of Cs And Ds" including NPR, Fox, and the Des Moines Register.

Because if you ever enter politics, you may one day think about running for president. And if you do decide to run, your college grades could become an issue, especially if they're mediocre.

That's what Texas Gov. Rick Perry is learning the hard way, now that what's reportedly his college transcript is on the Internet for the eyes of Texas and the world to gaze upon, courtesy of the Huffington Post.

He was well acquainted with Bs, Cs and Ds. A pre-veterinary student, he got an F in organic chemistry. While many people won't hold that against him, it may help explain why he's not a practicing veterinarian today.

Perry (a former candidate in the U.S. Republican presidential primary) seems to have neither confirmed nor denied the transcript's accuracy.

The governor’s office did not return a request for comment from The Huffington Post.

How do journalists test the provenance of leaked documents like this?

Community
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Mike Samuel
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    Who is rick perry? – Sklivvz Aug 23 '11 at 21:31
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    Two words: Dan Rather – Russell Steen Aug 23 '11 at 21:33
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    Sklivvz - I updated the question so it was more clear that this was about US politics. – Russell Steen Aug 23 '11 at 21:35
  • @Russel, thanks. I had hoped that "major US news outlets" had made that clear, but I guess people often skip to the bottom where the question-mark appears. – Mike Samuel Aug 23 '11 at 21:44
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    The more interesting question is whether - should it be a real transcript - the Obama Justice Dept would zealously pursue whoever committed a crime by violating what are probably a bunch of privacy laws by leaking it. – user5341 Aug 23 '11 at 23:03
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    @Mike -- It's shocking but "major US news outlets" do sometimes report on political news from other countries. Odd, but true. – Russell Steen Aug 24 '11 at 01:12
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    I don't know if the picture is, but Rick Perry is not authentic. – Moab Aug 24 '11 at 01:13
  • See also: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/39109/what-does-ive-got-my-fist-cocked-if-you-still-want-to-f-with-me-mean-in-re (_What does “I’ve got my fist cocked if you still want to f*** with me,” mean in reference to the comment on the hard-boiled character of Rick Perry?_) – Randolf Richardson Aug 24 '11 at 02:03
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    @Moab: They still call themselves journalists, so, naturally, their audience continues to make the same error. – Randolf Richardson Aug 24 '11 at 02:07
  • Voted to close. This is not a question covered by the rules, fixed in the faq. It invites speculation and does not challenge a notable claim (how the press works?). – user unknown Aug 24 '11 at 03:42
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    @russell well, maybe if he'd convened an entire stadium full of people to pray for better grades... – Monkey Tuesday Aug 24 '11 at 04:40
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    @Monkey - if that worked, wouldn't Boston Red Sox win more games? – user5341 Aug 24 '11 at 21:31
  • I see one of my comments was deleted, thanks. – Moab Aug 25 '11 at 00:26
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    He graduated from Texas A&M so a sure way to check is to see if it was written in crayon. (We Longhorns can't pass up an opportunity to dig on Aggies) – JohnFx Sep 10 '11 at 04:17

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Yes, this is authentic.

Perry acknowledged that his transcript has been published:

Let's lay out our income taxes. Let's lay our college transcripts. Mine's been on the front page of the paper.