| |
Mediamatters.Org - In an
August 22 Chicago Tribune article, correspondents
John McCormick and Jill Zuckman uncritically and repeatedly quoted a
"senior McCain adviser" attacking Sen. Barack Obama and asserted
that the adviser "spoke on condition that he not be identified in order
to discuss strategy." The article quoted the anonymous source stating:
"The Barack Obama of hope and change and new politics is now running his
campaign based on who owns the most houses. ... This is the venomous, nasty
Barack Obama the country is seeing." But the authors gave no explanation
of why they would agree to anonymity for a source who proceeded to attack and
to foreshadow further attacks on the opposing candidate.
In a February 14 Chicago Tribune article (accessed via the
Nexis database), reporters Jodi S. Cohen and Tara Malone wrote of the Tribune's policy on anonymous
sourcing: "The Tribune 'discourages' the use of unnamed
sources, according to the newspaper's stylebook, with exceptions made to
protect the safety of a source or other extenuating circumstances."
McCormick and Zuckman gave no indication that the grant of anonymity might be
necessary "to protect the safety of a source," and they discussed
no "other extenuating circumstances."
In a June 27 column, Chicago Tribune public editor Timothy J.
McNulty wrote: "There are plenty of good reasons, of course, that
reporters are willing to trade the truth in exchange for not naming the source of
the information. Some sources may fear criticism; others face retaliation and
even physical danger for speaking out. Anonymity is a shield to protect
them." McCormick and Zuckman gave no indication that the source feared
criticism or retaliation for talking to them about what the source reportedly
said were the McCain campaign's planned attacks against Obama.
From the February 14 Tribune
article:
U.S. newspapers have varying policies on anonymous sources.
The
Tribune "discourages" the use of unnamed sources, according to the newspaper's
stylebook, with exceptions made to protect the safety of a source or other extenuating
circumstances.
"The
Tribune will not print anonymously sourced material that adds only supplemental
or trivial material to stories, such as a zippy but unattributed quote that
might enliven a prosaic narrative but that also might lead the reader to wonder
about the validity of the material," reads one part of the stylebook's
discussion of the topic.
In the
August 22 Tribune
article, McCormick and Zuckman wrote:
A
senior McCain adviser said the attack provides license to raise more questions
about Obama and his relationships with Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., [Antoin
"Tony"] Rezko and William Ayers, a former '60s radical. A new
television ad about Obama and Rezko was to start running Thursday night.
"Rev.
Wright is in the game, in bounds," the adviser said. "We will educate
the American people about Barack's judgment through his association with Rev.
Wright. It won't be this week. It won't be next week."
The
source insisted Obama made a mistake in trying to question McCain's wealth. He
spoke on condition that he not be identified in order to discuss strategy.
"The
Barack Obama of hope and change and new politics is now running his campaign
based on who owns the most houses," he said. "This is the venomous,
nasty Barack Obama the country is seeing. They're looking at the polls and
they're just panicking."
Media Matters - Spinonymous: Chicago Tribune inexplicably provides "senior McCain adviser" anonymity to attack Obama {...} A Chicago Tribune article uncritically and repeatedly quoted a "senior McCain adviser" attacking Sen. Barack Obama and asserted that the adviser "spoke on condition that he not be identified in order to discuss strategy." But the authors gave no explanation of why they would agree to anonymity for a source who proceeded to attack and to foreshadow further attacks on the opposing candidate. {...} Published: August 22, 2008, 10:16 pm - Indexed: August 24, 2008, 10:07 am - Page Size: 18KB |