First Draft by Tim Porter

Anonymous Mess

An one-the-one-hand-but-on-the other-too Editor & Publisher story reporting reaction to the New York Times' WMD mea culpa -- much of which lamented the paper's use of anonymous sources -- contained this paragraph:

One editor at a leading daily, who requested anonymity, said simply, "I don't know how Judy Miller can walk into the building today."

This is the ultimate ironic icing on a rotten cake. Have we journalists become so reliant on unnamed sources that even when we report a story about them we rely on them? Apparently so.

Hello E&P. Pick up the clueless phone. It's ringing.

(Thanks to Romenesko, who had this gem in his letters.)

Posted by Tim Porter at May 27, 2004 07:15 PM