Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons brass are saying very little about allegations that the team's star quarterback may be involved with dogfighting.

The stories — which are circulating widely in the media — are not baseless but they do include more rumor and speculation than I'm comfortable with.

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Ever since Virginia police raided a property owned by Vick and found 70 dogs and evidence of dogfighting, reporters questioned Vick's involvement. They are right to do so. This is the latest in a string of questionable incidents Vick has found himself at the center of. Dogfighting is a felony in Virginia and authorities are meeting next week to review evidence in the case.

But two reports this newspaper carried in print and online this week gave me pause. The first appeared on ajc.com Sunday and quoted former Falcons teammate Ray Buchanan as having told Fox Sports analyst Chris Landry that Vick was deeply involved in dogfighting. Landry made the comments on a Tampa radio program two days earlier, and they quickly took on a life of their own. Given this information was second hand, and AJC reporters weren't able to reach Buchanan himself, we shouldn't have reported it.

In Tuesday's print edition, Falcons reporter Steve Wyche wrote a story quoting Buchanan, who denied making the statements to Landry. Wyche wrote that Buchanan told him Landry "spoke out of line and was using him to legitimize rumors and innuendo that have circulated about the dogfighting investigation."

According to Wyche's story, Buchanan acknowledged talking to Landry and telling him that Vick loves dogs, but that's as far his comments went. Landry maintains that he quoted Buchanan accurately.

Buchanan certainly isn't the first person to deny making controversial comments to a reporter.

When someone says they were misquoted, we take the matter seriously, sometimes going as far as asking for the reporter's notes or a tape of the interview if one exists. When the reporter doesn't work for us, that level of double checking isn't possible.

AJC pro sports editor Chris Vivlamore said Wyche and AJC sports reporter D. Orlando Ledbetter tried unsuccessfully to reach Buchanan and Landry on Saturday. Vivlamore decided the story should hold a day in the hopes of reaching one or both of the men.

When the story began to pick up steam nationally, there was more urgency for the AJC to report it. Vivlamore contacted sports editor Ronnie Ramos and they agreed the item should run inside Monday's paper. "I was very careful that our story made clear that this was one person relating what another had said to him," said Vivlamore. "It was also important to me that Vick and Buchanan were once teammates. This wasn't just somebody who could have heard from someone that Vick was possibly involved."

On Wednesday, ajc.com weighed in with a story quoting a member of the Virginia Animal Fighting Task Force, which helps with dogfighting investigations, that informants have indicated there is a tape of Vick at a dogfight. The story, which ran inside Thursday's sports section, went on to say that the task force hasn't confirmed the tape's existence.

Until such time as the alleged tape surfaces and can be authenticated, I don't see this as news. When Jennifer Toole read our story online, she asked in an e-mail what I think is a fair question: "Are you publishing rumors now?"

Ramos and Vivlamore say they are careful with these reports and chose to run this story to make it clear that investigators do not have a video — a fact that other Internet stories downplayed.

"A lot depends on the source," said Ramos. "You have to evaluate it. There's a lot of stuff about Vick that we've looked at that we haven't put in the paper. It's a very tough road right now. Vick's not talking and none of the Falcons are talking, making it more arduous to confirm the information. When it's on ESPN and local talk radio and everybody's discussing it, it makes it difficult for us to pretend it doesn't exist."

I certainly respect the need for AJC reporters to stay on top of this story. Vick is the team's most visible player and he hasn't used the best judgment in dealing with personal matters. But if having bad judgment were illegal, many of us would be behind bars.

When the newspaper runs unsubstantiated reports, we do our readers a disservice and do little to distinguish ourselves from less reputable sources. Yes, we should continue to ask questions — we just need to exercise more restraint when we don't have the answers.

• Contact Angela Tuck by e-mail at insideajc@ajc.com, by phone at 404-526-5819 by fax at 404-526-5610 or by writing

P.O. Box 4689, Atlanta, GA 30302.