On anonymous sources
posted on April 6, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Here’s the NY Times’ public editor on the paper’s flawed Iraq War reporting from 2004. It’s a good bit of media criticism. He reserves some special chastisement for anonymous sources:
There is nothing more toxic to responsible journalism than an anonymous source. There is often nothing more necessary, too; crucial stories might never see print if a name had to be attached to every piece of information. But a newspaper has an obligation to convince readers why it believes the sources it does not identify are telling the truth. That automatic editor defense, “We’re not confirming what he says, we’re just reporting it,” may apply to the statements of people speaking on the record. For anonymous sources, it’s worse than no defense. It’s a license granted to liars.
Good stuff.
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