On the Record About Anonymice

Two updates on yesterday’s panel about anonymous sources at the Press Club.

Jack Shafer continues his crusade with a look at some of the anonymous sources used in yesterday’s major papers and concludes that while some of uses could be argued as necessary, a particularly glaring example from NYT Todd S. Purdum could not: “As far as I’m concerned, ‘not wanting to steal the spotlight’ ranks right up there with ‘not wanting to muss one’s hair’ as a valid reason to give a source anonymity.”

Also, the AP’s write-up of the panel, which we can’t find online anywhere, has the AP President Tom Curley make several good points (never hurts to quote your boss favorably, does it?):

“We have to be able to walk out of a room, when somebody’s going to go off the record,” he said. “We have to have the courage to hold the story, perhaps, to get it on the record. We can’t rush to push the send button.”

…

A reliance on anonymous sourcing has been driven by a never ending news cycle, accelerated competition, and a predisposition for official secrecy after the terrorist attacks. As well, editors said, officials have become more sophisticated about managing the news with anonymous information.

Curley urged editors and others in the industry not to rely so heavily upon anonymous sources, and said they should push people to talk on the record.

“We have to have the courage to wait and develop the story fully,” he said, “Even as newspapers, where we are driven to be first, we have to have the ability to say, ‘Wait, we’re going to get more, we’re going to do more reporting and not going to take the easy way and use an anonymous source.’ We have to understand there are people out there with agendas, with motives who are trying to advance their cause.”

We’d comment further but we don’t want to steal Curley’s spotlight.

Update: Dan Froomkin, who took yesterday off of his column to attend the panel, has a longish write-up today.

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