The New York Times provides an extremely detailed account of the acrimony between BP and U.S. officials as they battled to plug the Gulf oil spill. The article offers specific information about what happened including embarrassing confrontations between the individuals involved. The report is notable for the lack of one thing — unnamed sources. All of the information is attributed to named officials including top BP officials and even the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar. Evidence that anonymous sourcing and informative reporting are not necessarily synonymous.
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Matt J. Duffy wrote his dissertation on the use of unnamed sources. He teaches new media and journalism courses at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Duffy worked as a journalist for many years including stints at The Boston Herald, The Nashua (NH) Telegraph, the (Jackson, MS) Clarion-Ledger and the Marietta (Ga.) Daily Journal. He's served as a reporter, copy editor and news editor.
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- Kudos to local Atlanta press for fighting judge’s gag orderThe judge in the trial of the Atlanta Public School cheating scandal case just lifted the gag order that had prohibited defendants from talking to the press. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported: (Superior Court Judge Jerry) Baxter granted a motion jointly filed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News seeking to remove gag orders [ […]
- Despite Arab Spring, still a bleak environment for journalists in Middle EastThe effect is depressing. Perhaps the troubles of the Arab Spring—unemployment, government corruption, and stagnant economic growth—could have been addressed if the news media weren’t beaten down by government harassment. But, these issues were ignored by a timid Arab press and allowed to fester. Related posts: On Middle East education and an ‘Arab Spring of […]
- Hamza Yusuf on Islam, freedom of speech and global communicationThis is a great talk from American Islamic scholar Hamza Yusuf on issues surrounding global communication and Islam. He spoke after the YouTube video portraying the Prophet Mohammed caused so much offense in the Muslim world last year. He makes some great points. First, he describes how Islamic scholars sometimes limit freedom of speech by [...] Related post […]
- NY Times covers my departure from UAEJust wanted to link to the article earlier this week in which a NY Times reporter used my case as a foil to examine the issue of teaching free expression in the Gulf Arab States. Here’s the lede: DOHA, QATAR — When Matt J. Duffy first got a job teaching journalism at Zayed University in [...] Related posts: Economist magazine notes my departure Just wanted t […]
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