02 Sep, 2010
New York Times reminds newsroom of anonymous source policy
Posted by: admin In: Uncategorized
Phil Corbett, the standards editor for the New York Times, issued a memo to the staff this week emphasizing the rules surrounding anonymous sourcing at the paper. The memo diverged little from previous policies. He did take reporters to task for “boilerplate” explanations explaining anonymity. He recommends offering more robust explanations, such as:
- “out of fear for his safety.”
- “out of fear of retaliation from X.”
- “because parties to the negotiations had promised to keep them confidential.”
- “because the company has threatened to fire workers who speak to the press.”
- “because Politician X insists that his aides not speak to reporters.”
- “to avoid antagonizing Official X.”
- “because disclosing grand jury testimony can be illegal.”
Good suggestions.
Corbett concluded:
A final reminder, on the most basic point. While anonymous sources are sometimes crucial to our journalism, every time we rely on anonymity, we put some strain on our credibility with readers. As all our guidelines emphasize, we should resort to anonymous sources only for newsworthy information that we can't report any other way. Anonymity should not be invoked for trivial, obvious or tangential information, or for quotes that add little of substance. And it should not be used as a mask for personal attacks.
Indeed.
