If you want to protect your sources, you don’t want to know who they are

Our personal weekly selection about journalism and innovation. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

edited by Marco Nurra

• “What’s the source of these documents?” asked the interviewer. “We don’t know the source, and it’s better that way,” replied Ignacio Escolar, editor of eldiario.es. “These documents came to us through the secure portal Filtrala.org, developed for precisely this reason, so that anyone can send us information like this without anyone else knowing who sent it. A court of law couldn’t order us to reveal the identity of the source because we simply don’t know who it is. And we don’t want to know.” The online news website eldiario.es, in association with La Marea and El Diagonal, began this week to publish a series of leaks which seem to demonstrate tax evasion and a subsequent amnesty for members of the royal family, entrepreneurs and Spanish politicians.
• We are in the era of big leaks, so what can you do as a Journalist? Here are a few tips provided during the News Impact Summit in London:

Mar Cabra (ICIJ)

• International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is now constrained by finances. As news outlets round the world continued to publish revelations from the Panama Papers, the nonprofit organization that coordinated the project was preparing to move out of its offices in an effort to cut costs.
• After Snowden, there is clear evidence of a paradigmatic shift in journalist-source relations. The Snowden revelations — that our actions and movements are recorded digitally — raise serious questions over the ability of journalists to protect their sources whether in intelligence agencies, government or corrupt private companies. We’ve tackled this topic at #ijf16:

Journalism after Snowden — #ijf16

• What can publishers learn from how Jeff Bezos is running The Washington Post? There are areas — some specific, some more attitudinal — from which newspapers could in fact benefit by studying the Bezos model. Here are a few.
• There are now more Americans working for online-only outlets than newspapers, according to this Nieman Lab’s article. Employment at online outlets first eclipsed newspapers in October 2015.
• What are the consequences of acquiring information mainly through emotions? An increasing reliance on visual images in the digital age is turning news into entertainment, warns Matteo Stocchetti. Images tap viewers’ emotions, rather than their minds.
• Would you like to win a newspaper? The Hardwick Gazette sent out a press release Wednesday for an essay contest with a newsworthy prize: The Hardwick Gazette.

The contest winner will assume ownership of The Hardwick Gazette, the historic Main Street building where the newspaper has been published for better than 100 years, and equipment and proprietary materials necessary to operate the business.

• A 50-something journalist gets a week on Snapchat Discover. The founder of PolitiFact finds distracting soundtracks and stale headlines, but also a fair amount of lively and effective content.
• ​How (NOT) to win a journalism grant? During the 10th edition of the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Wilfried Ruetten gave a talk on How not to win a journalism grant, in which he touched upon recurring errors candidates commit when applying for a grant.

How to not win a journalism grant — #ijf16

International Journalism Festival is the biggest annual media event in Europe. It’s an open invitation to interact with the best of world journalism. All sessions are free entry for all attendees, all venues are situated in the stunning setting of the historic town centre of Perugia.