No Anonymous Quotes! - Signed, Anonymous

My previous posts about the recent shooting here made reference to my being interviewed by two local newspaper reporters. My comments may have given the impression that Abby Slutsky of the Journal Gazette had offered to quote me anonymously for her article and I wish to clarify this point. When she first approached me she asked if I was Phil Marx. I think she has some familiarity with my situation here and because I was standing right in front of my house this seemed like an obvious assumption to her.

After I acknowledged her and we exchanged proper introductions, she did preface her questions by stating that she would not divulge my name, but that does not imply that she was going to quote me anonymously for her story. Just like in police work, anonymous tips can often be useful for directing one’s attention in the right direction, but because of their perceived lack of credibility they are not as strong for proving a case. For example, while the police may not use an anonymous tip of a house being used for drugs to kick in the door, they may use this as a reason for increasing surveillance on that house. This surveillance may in turn lead to credible cause for kicking in the door.

In the case of a newspaper reporter, the situation may be similar. They offer people, especially those who might reasonably fear reprisal, anonymity as a means to coax them to divulge information. And while this type of information might be very weak by itself, it can help the reporter to better understand the situation and perhaps know where to look then for more substantial sources of information.

Blogger Jeff Pruitt of Fort Wayne Politics has recently pointed to what he sees as a conflicting account between JG writer Ben Lanka and County Commissioner Nelson Peters regarding a quote that the former had attributed to the latter. Well, if Pruitt’s understanding of the situation is correct, then either Lanka or Peters is not being forthright with their explanation. Most people in this area have at least a casual knowledge of these two public figures. We can make inferences about the current situation based upon our understanding of these two people’s character. But if these types of quotes are made anonymously, then there really is no way to check them, and they lose a lot of their credibility.

Although there is a strong and respected tradition of reporters having the right to quote anonymously, many choose not to avail themselves of this opportunity for fear that the often perceived lack of credibility associated with such quotes may be transferred to the writer him or herself. It has recently been brought to my attention that it is neither the general policy of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette nor of their writer Abby Slutsky to use unnamed sources for quotes in their articles. Although I am exercising my own journalistic (blogaristic?) prerogative in choosing not to identify the individual who brought this information to my attention, I assure you that it is a credible source.

Signed, Anonymous