Latest News → MediaWire

Politico relies on anonymous sources for story about anonymous sources

avatar by Published July 25, 2011 1:58 pm Updated July 25, 2011 2:06 pm

Politico
“Anonymous sources are the crack cocaine of journalism,” professor Wendell Cochran tells Politico. And yet journalists are depending on them to cover the debt ceiling debate. “The volume of information delivered in a stage whisper on the deficit and debt limit story has been extreme,” Politico reports. Ironically, Politico’s story on the subject quotes two named sources and two anonymous ones.

“I can’t recall any recent story so heavily reliant on anonymous sourcing. It’s a matter of concern for every journalist in this building,” said a White House reporter for a national newspaper chain.

Tags:

We have made it easy to comment on posts, however we require civility and encourage full names to that end (first initial, last name is OK). Please read our guidelines here before commenting.

  • Anonymous

    That is pretty odd.

    But ever read a paper that swears anonymous sources off? Chances are it’s a lonely little newspaper with circ under 50,000 and chummy relations with local pols. Anon sources should be approved by the editor in chief each time, and be used sparingly. I once saw a small local paper use them. It was a disaster. Their police sources were misleading them for their own purposes in an investigation.

    But — Politics is still too risky for some to be named. People who deride anon sources forget who wrote the Federalist Papers.

    Or what made Watergate and a host of other stories so compelling.

    BroMatt (not my real name)

  • Anonymous

    That is pretty odd.

    But ever read a paper that swears anonymous sources off? Chances are it’s a lonely little newspaper with circ under 50,000 and chummy relations with local pols. Anon sources should be approved by the editor in chief each time, and be used sparingly. I once saw a small local paper use them. It was a disaster. Their police sources were misleading them for their own purposes in an investigation.

    But — Politics is still too risky for some to be named. People who deride anon sources forget who wrote the Federalist Papers.

    Or what made Watergate and a host of other stories so compelling.

    BroMatt (not my real name)