“Any journalist and editor will always prefer to run a hard-hitting investigative story like this that does include named sources.” –Drew Nelles The threat to snow plow workers is real. Weeks before Maisonneuve released the Winter 2011 issue, a projectile akin to a Molotov cocktail was thrown through the window of a snow removal company […]

As a guideline for most media outlets, anonymity is usually granted if there is no other way to get the information and what the source provides is integral to the story. However, there is no legislation or set policy that every news organization must abide by. Some media outlets try to remain as strict as […]

Anonymity and Believability “What does the journalist have to offer to these ordinary people, who ‘give a human face’ to their stories?” – Isabel Awad, Journalists and their Sources: Lessons from Anthropology In most circumstances, anonymity should be seen as a last resort for journalists. As David Boeyink wrote in the Journal of Mass Media […]

In general, all conversations with journalists are assumed to be on the record unless the interviewee specifically requests otherwise beforehand. The journalist should identify him or herself and explain what they are writing about. According the New York University’s journalism handbook, dealings of what can be attributed to a source, and what cannot, must be […]

A journalist’s duty While reporting for the new angle of snow plow collusion, many of the sources told Ross stories about damage done to their property and personal threats they received for simply underbidding on a contract they were not meant to win. Some people she interviewed did not ask to be off the record. […]