Yes, News Outlets Should Use Anonymous Sources
Anonymous sources are flawed, but critical parts of journalistic practice
Fake news! This is the common refrain for many conservative partisans when faced with embarrassing news. Allegations of sex trafficking are lies spread by the liberal media, all part of a wide-ranging conspiracy to undermine conservatives by the ‘Leftists.’ Allegations that Trump called dead soldiers ‘losers’ are lies by the deep state, says the partisan. And while it’s easy to dismiss this attitude as rank partisanship, the recent dismissal of new stories is based on a seemingly innocuous but incredibly flawed idea of how the news operates. To some on the right, the use of anonymous sources is an act of journalistic malpractice that shouldn’t be allowed. This attitude is not about improving journalistic practice, but more than that, following this standard would do irreparable harm to critical news coverage.
Why Republicans Hate Anonymous Sources
During the Trump administration, pro-Trump Republicans endured numerous scandals, investigations, and salacious stories. Some credible and some not. One of the most frustrating to conservatives is the story published in September of 2020 by the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, which alleged that Trump referred to…
