Anonymous Sources and Their Problems

The use of anonymous sources in journalism and what the abuse of the convention produces

The Convention

The anonymous source convention allows sources to provide information on condition of non-attribution. The convention is essential for some accountability journalism and is routinely abused for others: providing cover for trial balloons, allowing officials to spin stories while avoiding accountability for the spin, and enabling publications to publish unchallenged allegations from unnamed accusers.

The Standards

Responsible journalism standards for anonymous source use: the information must be significant enough to warrant the credibility cost of anonymity; the source must have direct knowledge; the information must be verifiable; and the publication must have a reason to trust the source it can articulate. The standards are frequently articulated and inconsistently applied.

JournoNews Analysis

JournoNews covers the anonymous source convention because the accountability journalism of journalism requires examining the convention whose abuse produces the specific credibility failures that anonymous-source-driven news cycles regularly produce.

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