NEWS 409 Lecture 32: Confidentiality News Sources Notes
26 Feb 2019
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The use of unidentified sources is reserved for situations in which the newspaper could not otherwise print information it considers reliable and newsworthy. Anonymity must not be automatic or an assumed condition. In that kind of reporting, anonymity should not be offered to a source. Exceptions will occur in the reporting of highly sensitive stories, when it is we who have sought out a source who may face legal jeopardy or loss of livelihood for speaking with us. Similarly they will occur in approaches to authoritative officials in government who, as a matter of policy, do not speak for attribution. On those occasions, we may use an offer of anonymity as a wedge to make telephone contact, get an interview or learn a fact. The reporter should press the source, after the conversation, to go on the record with the newsworthy information that has emerged.
