Legal Commentary

An Inadequate Rationale For Granting Anonymity

By Big Tent Democrat

Responding to Glenn Greenwald's post questioning his grant of anonynmity to Obama Administration sources, Ezra Klein gives an inadequate reply (imo of course):

[W]e are, fundamentally, dealing with a collective action problem: So long as there are journalists willing to speak with sources on background, sources can demand background for most all commentary. An individual writer -- particularly at a small outlet -- can then choose between anonymous sources or none at all. And so far as informing readers go, some sourcing is better than none.

This is unconvincing. Klein's willingness to use anonymous sourcing at the drop of a hat actually does a great disservice to journalism and to his own work. It becomes apparent that he is simply a part of the spin, not the reporting. It would be far better if he reported what was on the record, than to allow an anonymous record to be created. "Everybody does it" is no excuse. It is precisely why the Media is such a joke today. It appears Klein has chosen to be in on the joke. More . .

After defending himself, Klein then goes on to defend those seeking anonymity (see how granting access leads to getting sympathetic coverage?):

That said, this is partially our fault as a profession. Journalists frequently use official quotes not just to inform but to embarrass. . . . They understand, rightly, that the insights won't be presented as "important policy information about the health care system" so much as "political hypocrisy that can embarrass the administration." . . . And even when we're dealing with less contentious statements, too many policy types have seen honest-but-unclear quotes on complicated matters ripped from context or misrepresented. . . .

The answer then, is to say nothing. Going on background and relying on anonymity means what exactly? Indeed, Ezra's argument is contradictory - if an anonymous quote will not raise the same questions an on the record quote will, then the value of the anonymous quote is already undermined.

But more than that, it is not Ezra's job to manage public relations for the Administration - if he is being a journalist that is. If he is going to do journalism, then do journalism. If he is going to be in the Media, then that is what he should do and drop the journalistic pretense.

That was an extremely troubling response from Klein imo. He is part of the future of journalism (he will certainly be the one of next Joe Klein types, he is quite talented) and even before he gets a seat at the Big Media table, he is already compromising his journalistic standards. Imagine what he will be willing to compromise when he gets a seat at the table?

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 07, 2009 (boomark / email).