Intellectual Property Law

They Aren't "Anonymous" Sources, They Are "Undisclosed" Sources

By Siva Vaidhyanathan

This NYT column reports:

... Anonymous sources have provided some of the most important information in The Times, like the disclosure of the Bush administration?s extralegal bugging of international communications. But they have embarrassed the newspaper too, as with unsubstantiated suggestions that John McCain had an extramarital affair with a lobbyist.

Readers hate anonymous sources because they cannot judge the sources? credibility for themselves. ...

Since the sources are known to the reporters, they are not actually anonymous. They are simply undisclosed to readers. Which contrasts fairly dramatically with anonymous bloggers, who have no indicia of reliability whatsoever. See also.

Full post as published by SIVACRACY .NET on June 09, 2008 (boomark / email).