the two articles, saying that he and his editors agreed that the quotes were needed to give "some voice from the other side" -- that is, the government -- in articles reporting allegations of civilian deaths. Until the drone-strike program is made overt and government officials can talk more freely about it, Shane said, "journalists often have a choice of quoting anonymous officials or writing stories about accusations of bad strikes and innocent deaths and including no response at all. I feel it's important to include some voice from the other side, and my editors have agreed. In addition, it seems to me important to citizens to know what the government says, even if some citizens find the statements unpersuasive or worse." The problem, though, with the U.S. government as the anonymous "voice from the other side," is that the real unrepresented "voice from the other side" in the mainstream news media is that of the civilian victims. Their voices and names seldom appear in the mainstream media. Shane should be credited for writing the two articles that gave headlines and space to the drone-strike critics. But those government officials are not so oppressed that they should be allowed to anonymously trash their critics' reputations and motivations. Readers might reasonably assume that the Times wouldn't run such quotes anonymously and without proof unless there were some truth to them. Because the drone strikes occur in remote, inaccessible areas, Akbar said at the conference, "The CIA is the only source as