Hidden Hills
January 13, 2023
The opinion writers at the Journal must be cringing. They are always bashing other journalist for using unnamed sources.
For me, unnamed sources are part of the game. It is up to us as readers to decide whether we want to believe what they provide to journalists.
I was okay with unnamed sources until revelations those sources were sometimes only other reporters speculating, or 2nd and even third hand sources, and not an individual with first hand knowledge. In addition many of these "sources" are politicians, bureaucrats, and political operatives driving an agenda. One example is the unnamed sources promoting the Russia dossier about Trump to reporters who knew the information was suspect or false. From my perspective, if unnamed sources are being used, the reader deserves to also have critical information the reporter has about the sources which would help the reader to evaluate the objectivity and veracity of the source.