It is really important for a journalist to research thoroughly before you put pen to paper. You need to be 100% sure of what you are writing and the information must be accurate or you could be in a lot of trouble. Interview the real people for the story before you check the internet for the information and make sure that you have a couple of references to go with it.
Once you are extremely sure of your information then you write it down and send it off!

You are so right. The information you intend using needs to be accurate. You need to check and double check because statistics are not always the same. The amount of research you need to do will really depend on your subject. Sometimes you will need facts and figures with a great deal of detail, while at other times you may only require a simple outline. Regardless, you need to make sure your information can be counted on.

I recently had to follow up on a story about the zenaphobia attacks in South Africa as some of the information was inaccurate and could have made some real damage.

The problem here is that people equate citing sources as real research...and this is how news stories that aren't true get spread like wildfire. For example the "We're going to have a mini ice age in 10 years!" news story came from a scientific document that didn't even mention climate change or anything, and was completely misinterpreted.

So it's not just about research it's about fact checking their sources too and following the trail.