Anonymous Sources
October 26th, 2005
Dan Chou's Story of the Week
Recent events have spurred talk on anonymous sources. As part of my Journalism 190 course, the story of the week has been changed for this week to point out media use of anonymous sources:
There are times when the use of anonymous sources is unnecessary. For example, this article has quotes from an official of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea regarding the 4th East Asian Games. Is it really necessary to remain anonymous saying that they HOPE to do well? The fact that information from the official is used adds nothing to the article, and instead makes it sound as if it wants to be secretive, when it really is not. There was no need to even say that a delegation was quoted, or that he wanted to remain anonymous.
At other times, there might be an actual reason to remain anonymous. For example, this article quotes an official from the UAW. The official remained anonymous because leaders like him are not allowed to comment on the cuts. However, it might be important to point out the cuts, to bring them out to the public. It almost reminds me off Deep Throat and Watergate in a way.
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