Presentation at AEJMC in Washington, D.C., in August 2013. Abstract for paper: "This paper offers a historical examination of the journalistic norms surrounding the practice of citing anonymous sources. The author examines a variety of textbooks, guidebooks, trade press coverage, and codes of ethics over the past century. The analysis reveals that unnamed attribution, once scorned as a journalistic practice, has gained acceptance over time. As journalistic norms have evolved, the acceptance of the practice has spread beyond national government and international reporting to local coverage. Despite the general acceptance of this practice, journalistic norms surrounding when and how to use anonymous sources remain unsettled. This analysis also finds that journalism textbooks more often describe common practices of journalists rather than provide normative directives as to how journalists should act. Importantly, this study reveals that a journalistic tradition of independently verifying information from unnamed sources has dramatically diminished."
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Unnamed attribution: A Historical Analysis of the Journalism Norms Surrounding the Use of Anonymous Sources
1. A H I S T O R I C A L A N A L Y S I S O F T H E
J O U R N A L I S M N O R M S S U R R O U N D I N G T H E
U S E O F A N O N Y M O U S S O U R C E S
B Y M A T T J . D U F F Y , P H . D .
K E N N E S A W S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y
K E N N E S A W , G A .
Unnamed Attribution
2. Purview of the study
How did journalists approach the practice of using
anonymous sources over time?
Primary and secondary sources
Textbooks – dating back to 1907
Codes of ethics – ASNE, SPJ
Style guides: NYT,
Washington Post, AP
Trade magazine coverage
(All images public domain.
Source: www.morguefile.com)
3. Lit review
Boeyink (1990) argued anonymous sourcing
overused, provided guidelines for limited use
Blankenship (1992) disagreed, noted value to society
of discussing issues revealed via anonymity
Son (2003) stressed “leaks” from government gave
officials too much power to shape news coverage
Smith (2007), Sternadori and Thorson (2009) found
some audiences didn’t trust anonymous sourcing
Duffy and Williams (2012) found anonymous
sourcing peaked in 1960s, 1970s
4. Methodology
Textbooks picked from bookshelf at Georgia State
University library
31 textbooks total (census), examined for any reference to
unnamed sources
Focused on “nuts and bolts” books, not theoretical
Excluded books devoted to ethics, journalism outside US
SPJ, ASNE codes of ethics (started changing in 70s)
Style manuals from NYT, Washington Post, AP
Any mention of “Anonymous Sources” in CJR
Analyzed how texts treated use of unnamed sources
5. Findings – four major conclusions
Anonymous sourcing not always accepted practice.
Practice became widely established and accepted
among journalists in 1970s, but parameters varied
In last two decades, normative guidelines not offered
in journalism textbooks.
Norm of independently verifying
all information attributed to
unnamed sources (once widely
stressed) diminished dramatically
by 2000s.
6. Not always accepted
Earliest textbooks don’t mention anonymous
sourcing, first reference is 1955
Hohenberg (1960) says:
“Editors [in the past] generally insisted that the sources of the
news must be identified by name, whether or not they could be
quoted directly. The presence of an anonymous figure, who
could not be described in any way except in
relation to what he represented, was almost
an affront to many reporters and editors.”
Foreign coverage tended to be exception
“Lindley Rule” – Newsweek war reporter
7. Widely used, but differing parameters
By 1970s, anonymous sourcing accepted practice
More emphasis on normative guidelines
Bush (1970): Source must be reliable, purpose honorable
Burrows (1977): Must be important, apparently true,
independently verified, danger to life or profession
SPJ code introduced in 1975:
“Unless there is clear and pressing need to maintain
confidences, sources of information should be identified.”
In 1980s, far less rigorous:
Rivers (1984): No guidelines for use, cited ex.: Biz owner
could be quoted anonymously to criticize city policy.
8. Not all texts offer normative guidance
After 1980s, normative guidance far less likely in
textbooks
Instead, textbooks described how
media outlets practiced journalism
Code of ethics, style manuals provided
substantial normative guidance
9. Independent verification rule wanes
In 1970s, many textbooks stressed independent
verification of anonymous information
Jibed with common understanding of Watergate
reporting
Some now call Watergate verification rule dubious
Williams (1978):
Journalists “decry the story based on a single
unnamed source. The writer, therefore, must
get confirmation, not from other unnamed
people, but from records and from attributable
sources.”
By 2000s, importance of verification
rule waned
10. Independent verification rule wanes
NYT editor Bill Keller (2008):
“Quantity is not the same as quality, which is why we do not
have a “two source rule” or a “three source rule.” One actual
participant in an event may be better than three people who
heard about it third‐hand, or from one another. One neutral
witness may be more valuable than a crowd of partisans”
AP style book (2004):
Journalists should “be sure to seek more than one source
for the story.”
AP style book (2009) omits the sentence
(Washington Post notably still requires it)
11. My conclusions, recommendations
Anonymous sourcing should be treated with more
care (as it apparently was in the 1950s)
Journalism textbooks should contain normative
guidelines, not just industry practices
We should debate whether independent verification
should be required
Perhaps guidelines for
when single-source
anonymous source is OK?
12. The End!
Slides posted on: www.mattjduffy.com
Follow me at: www.Academia.edu
And on Twitter: @mattjduffy
Email: mattjduffy@gmail.com