July 8, 2009

There’s One Loser When the Press Relies on Anonymous Sources: The Public

 

Do you ever ponder why it is that often the only way to get an insight into the way government works is to rely on anonymous sources?

No? Well indulge me.

It's a sad state of affairs that, when the public official goes, uh, public by attaching his or her name to some statement, what we get is a self-serving pronouncement designed not to shed light on an issue but to present that official in the best light.

Sad to say, what's on the record is, to quote a long-time Washington hand, ". . . too often incomplete, at best or downright deceptive". So journalists must rely on those who will offer their real or pretend expertise on "background" meaning they can be quoted, but not named.

A source with long media experience, aware he might upset colleagues, put it this way: "A reporter can find someone to say whatever he or she wants to support the premise of a story."

That's just one of the problems. "What about", said a person close to politics, “the source who doesn't want to be identified because he has an obvious agenda of his own?"

It's an important point. As one reporter put it "It's win-win for everybody. The writer or correspondent gets to embellish his piece. The anonymous source gets to promote his point of view."

A student of the process pointed out, however, that it's not entirely a winning proposition. "There is one loser," he argued. "That's the public trying to get an accurate idea of how things work".

What's to be done? "How about getting the newsmaker to be straightforward about an issue instead of self serving?" That's the suggestion of a person who has spent decades dealing with officeholders. "Rather than merely a sales job,” he continued, "Perhaps he should openly discuss a given issue, with a fair assessment of both pros and cons".

Maybe that's naive, but it might have a better chance of happening if everyone tried to avoid, as much as possible, the expedient of the anonymous quotes with all their potential for deception, abuse and downright clumsiness.

It's entirely possible you may have figured out that I relied on only one anonymous source: Me. It's that easy to do.