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Article: Newspaper ombudsmen's reactions to use of anonymous sources.
- Article from:
- Newspaper Research Journal
- Article date:
- June 22, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Surveys of ombudsmen find that most feel their papers use anonymous sources about the right amount and that the public does not object to such use.
Journalists are ambivalent about the use of anonymous sources: They criticize their overuse, yet they often depend on them for information when writing stories.(1) A 1979 American Society of Newspaper Editors study demonstrated these mixed attitudes. Eighty-one percent of the 203 journalist respondents to a mail survey said unnamed sources were less believable, on the whole, than named sources, yet 87 percent said the use of unnamed sources was, on balance, a good practice.(2)
Journalists' ambivalence continues in ...