Philadelphia Inquirer
They’re easy, addictive and dangerous, says Richard Stengel. The former Time magazine national editor writes:
“In my experience, most anonymous leads were either water-cooler gossip, poison darts, or self-interested information leaked to help the agendas of officeholders. …Using anonymous sources is dangerous as well for a reason journalists rarely admit: They are easily manipulated. Every journalist knows that a blind quotation is more easily massaged than an attributed one.” From Editor & Publisher:
> Editors like the idea of keeping secret sources’ names off computers
> Gannett reminds staff about three degrees of confidential protection
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