Abstract
Confidential sources and confidential documents can be critical to high-quality journalism when there are too few transparent sources to adequately inform a news story. Moreover, the legal protections that U.S. journalists receive from most state’s “shield laws” are one of the most symbolic aspects of professionalization (or professionalism) that journalists possess because of their similarity to established professions’ confidentiality protections such as doctor-patient confidentiality and attorney-client privilege. Nonetheless, good journalists typically limit their use of confidential sources and documents because their audience loses transparency and because sources often have ulterior motives that pose significant risks to the effects of the reporting. The purpose of this chapter is to clarify the guiding principles justifying the use of confidential sources and documents, while also considering limitations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Bensinger, K., Elder, M. & Schoofs, M. (2017, January 10). “These reports allege trump has deep ties to Russia.” Buzzfeed News. Found May 12, 2018 at: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kenbensinger/these-reportsallege-trump-has-deep-ties-to-russia.
Bumiller, E. (2003, October 5). Debating a leak: The director; C.I.A. chief is caught in middle by leak inquiry, The New York Times, 1A.
Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. (1991). 501 U.S. 663. U.S. Supreme Court.
Corn, D. (2016, October 31). A veteran spy has given the FBI information alleging a Russian operation to cultivate Donald Trump. Mother Jones. Found on June 13, 2018 at: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/veteran-spy-gave-fbi-info-alleging-russian-operation-cultivate-donald-trump/
Davis, M. (2010). Why journalism is a profession. In C. Meyers (Ed.), Journalism ethics: A philosophical approach (pp. 91–102). New York: Oxford University Press.
Gannett Newspaper Division. (1999). Principles of ethical conduct for newsrooms. http://www.asne.org/ideas/codes/gannettcompany.htm
Gezari, V. (2017, January 11). BuzzFeed was right to publish trump-Russia files. Columbia Journalism Review. Found on June 15, 2018 at: https://www.cjr.org/criticism/buzzfeed_trump_russia_memos.php
Holland, M. (2012). Leak: Why mark felt became deep throat. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Khatchadourian, R. (2010, June 7). No secrets. The New Yorker. Found on June 15, 2018 at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/06/07/no-secrets
McCarthy, A. (2016, October 29). Clinton’s State department: A RICO enterprise. The National Review. Found on June 15, 2018 at: https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/10/hillary-clinton-corruption-foundation/
NBC. (2005, November 27). Meet the press with Tim Russert.
New York Times v. Sullivan. (1964). 376 U.S. 254. U.S. Supreme Court.
Oremus, W. (2017, January 11). Buzzfeed’s bombshell. Slate. Found on June 12, 2018 at: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2017/01/why_buzzfeed_published_the_explosive_memos_about_trump_and_russia_and_no.html
Page, C. (2018, June 14). Federal ‘shield law’ needed for the media. The News & Advance. Found at: http://www.newsadvance.com/opinion/columnists/page_clarence/federal-shield-law-needed-for-the-media/article_1600d8b4-6f44-11e8-8df6-739bb4fb29ec.html, June 18, 2018.
Perez, E., Sciutto, J. & Tapper, J. (2017, January 12). “Intel chiefs presented Trump with claims of Russian efforts to compromise him.” CNN Politics. Found May 12, 2018 at: https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/10/politics/donald-trumpintelligence-report-russia/index.html
Quinn, A. (2010). Respecting sources; confidentiality: Critical but not absolute. In C. Meyers (Ed.), Journalism ethics: A philosophical approach. New York: Oxford University Press.
Schleifer, T., & Scott, E. (2016, July 25). What was in the DNC Email Leak? CNN. Found on June 15, 2018 at: https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/24/politics/dnc-email-leak-wikileaks/index.html
Shane, S., Confessore, N., & Rosenberg, M. (2017, January 11). How a sensational, unverified dossier became a crisis for Donald Trump. The New York Times. Found on May 14, 2018 at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-intelligence.html
Wemple, E. (2017, October 20). Trump says the media won’t cover ’real’ Russia story. It already did. Years ago. Found on June 15, 2018 at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2017/10/20/trump-says-the-media-wont-cover-real-russia-story-it-already-did-years-ago/?utm_term=.c878c3af7a08
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Quinn, A. (2018). Confidential Sourcing and Anonymous Documents. In: Virtue Ethics and Professional Journalism . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01428-5_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01428-5_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-01427-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-01428-5
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)