"Unconfirmed Reports" is the second episode of the fifth season of the HBO original series, The Wire. The episode was written by William F. Zorzi from a story by David Simon & William F. Zorzi and was directed by Ernest Dickerson. It originally aired on 13 January 2008.

The title refers to Scott Templeton's fabricated report, as well as McNulty's imaginary serial killer and the purported insults to Marlo's sexuality.

While discussing the situation in Baltimore with Lester and McNulty, Bunk sardonically remarks that Baltimore is not like Aruba, apparently referring to the Natalee Holloway case. Had McNulty's "killer" garnered anywhere near as much media coverage as the Holloway case, the Baltimore P.D. would likely start to receive their much needed funding. This was made in reference to the fact that the death of Black males in inner cities seem to be handled as less of a concern than that of Whites (see Missing white woman syndrome).

Carcetti mentions the governor "diatribe on Olesker", a Baltimore Sun journalist, an incident that happened in real life in 2004. David Simon also wrote an op-ed in the Baltimore City Paper to support Olesker over alleged plagiarism leading to his resignation. Olesker worked as an extra in this season of The Wire.

Carcetti also mentions the real life debate the state of Maryland was having about legalizing "slots", with Republican governor Bob Ehrlich (2004–2007, and by then the first Republican governor in Maryland since 1969) supporting the change of law, while the Maryland General Assembly, historically Democrat, was against it.

Although credited, Lance Reddick, Seth Gilliam, Domenick Lombardozzi, Michael K. Williams, Jermaine Crawford, and Michael Kostroff do not appear in this episode.

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