ABSTRACT
Anonymous online comments on news websites are a thorny digital outgrowth of journalism's long-established and often questionable use of unnamed sources. An anonymous online comment posted at the bottom of a local politics story set off a journalistic quandary at The Salt Lake Tribune in July 2015. When reporters at the Tribune confronted Art Raymond with their findings, he acknowledged writing the comments under the WhiskeyPete pseudonym from the computer in his city hall office. By journalistic standards, Raymond's anonymous online activity was now newsworthy and warranted news coverage in the public's interest. Anonymity plays a role in online discourse and journalism. Anonymity in news reporting and online news comments is in many ways a trap. Since anonymity and pseudonymity were standard attributes of online discourse in the early days of the internet, most news outlets adopted the same policy for their forums when commenting became a component of the digital news terrain in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
