On the condition of anonymity
Subtitle: unnamed sources and the battle for journalism
By: Matt Carlson
Series: The history of communication; History of communication
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Urbana
Language: eng
Number of pages: 202
ISBN-13: 9780252035999
Subjects: Attribution of news; Reporters and reporting; Journalism; Journalistic ethics
Description: Matt Carlson confronts the promise and perils of unnamed sources in this exhaustive analysis of controversial episodes in American journalism during the George W. Bush administration, from prewar reporting mistakes at the New York Times and Washington Post to Judith Miller's involvement in the Valerie Plame leak case and Dan Rather's lawsuit against CBS News. Weaving a narrative thread that stretches from the uncritical post-9/11 era to the unmasking of Deep Throat and the spectacle of the Scooter Libby trial, Carlson examines a tense period in American history through the lens of journalism. Revealing new insights about high-profile cases involving confidential sources, he highlights contextual and structural features of the era, including pressure from the right, scrutiny from new media and citizen journalists, and the struggles of traditional media to survive amid increased competition and decreased resources. In exploring the recent debates among journalists and critics over the appropriate roles of media, Carlson underscores the potential for unattributed information to be both an effective tool in uncovering necessary information about vital institutions and a means for embroiling journalists in controversy and damaging the credibility of already struggling news outlets. -- from Book Jacket
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : the problems-and promise-of unnamed sources; title: Media culpas : prewar reporting mistakes at the New York times and Washington post; title: "Blogs 1, CBS 0" : 60 minutes and the Killian memos controversy; title: Journalists fight back : Newsweek and the Koran abuse story; title: Deep Throat and the question of motives; title: "Journalism on trial" : confidentiality and the Plame leak case; title: Rethinking anonymity : problems and solutions.