Against Anonymous Sources

1
Against Anonymous Sources

• Watergate
• Janet Cookes Jimmys World story

2
Reasons

• Vulnerable to charges
• Abuse of anonymous sources A cloak behind which
  government officials can circulate propaganda or
  disinformation with impunity
• Place you on a slippery slope That slope
  increases its pitch this way. Anonymous but well
  identified. Anonymous and weakly

3

• Identified. Anonymous and no I.D.Anonymous but
  deceptively identified. Anonymous and protected
  with a false no- comment (Mike Hoyt, senior
  editor of the Columbia Journalism Review)
• A good reporter never takes responsibility for
  others.
• You will spread rumors and discredit the
  organization.

4

• The way newspapers are read and broadcasts are
  heard, it usually is the news medium that the
  audience thinks is in error, not the news
  source. (Herbert Strentz, News Reporters and
  News Sources)

5
Local Examples

• Roman Tams death

6

• Ming Paos report on Li Peng.

7
Conclusion

• I think that the use of anonymous sources... is
  the sign of a lazy reporter or a careless editor.
  I think that the good reporter can get almost
  anything on the record (Michael Gartner,
  president of NBC News in 1988)