ABSTRACT
Well-informed sources are a reporter’s bread and butter, and dependence on them creates some genuine complexities. A news medium’s pledge to divulge its sources of information is welcomed by the public; however, publishing names usually results in the sources thereafter speaking guardedly or even drying up. Several tactics are used in confronting this dilemma so that audiences are served and sources remain content. As Hugh Culbertson wrote: “The unnamed news source has been called a safety valve for democracy and a refuge for conscience, but also a crutch for lazy, careless reporters.”1 A classic Washington Post editorial captured some of the struggle in its description of “Source’s” family tree:
Walter and Ann Source (nee Rumor) had four daughters (Highly Placed, Authoritative, Unimpeachable, and Well-Informed). The first married a diplomat named Reliable Informant. (The Informant brothers are widely known and quoted here; among the best known are White House, State Department, and Congressional.) Walter Speculation’s brother-in-law, Ian Rumor, married Alexandre Conjecture, from which there were two sons, It Was Understood and It Was Learned. It Was Learned just went to work in the Justice Department, where he will be gainfully employed for four long years.2
