Outing Anonymous Bloggers

YankeeFan · Jun 16, 2009

The Big Ragu said:

This notion of "professional courtesy" when it comes to someone's anonymous source has no basis in anything.

One anonymous source for Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams in reporting the BALCO story was Troy Ellerman, Victor Conte's original attorney. The two reporters protected him even when threatened with contempt of court -- and still have never confirmed he was a source. That didn't stop Yahoo! Sports from reporting that Ellerman was one of their sources the minute they had confirmation that the FBI was investigating him. Yahoo! had no obligation to Ellerman, or to Fainaru-Wada or Williams, and Ellerman being the source of the leak was newsworthy -- especially when it had been widely assumed that the Feds were the source of the leak and Ellerman was on few radar screens. Only Fainaru-Wada and Williams had an obligation to the guy, and they held true to their agreement for anonymity.
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Ragu, thanks.

Good example of what I was asking, and you're right, they outed someone else's source.

Much easier to consider when it's not hypothetical.

da man · Jun 16, 2009

YankeeFan said:

buckweaver said:

That makes a little more sense, da man.

But that question has nothing to do with this story -- or this thread.

EDIT: Not sure how you're coming up with the idea of "his own anonymous source," YF. Explain that, please.
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Well, let's say you have something that you think is newsworthy, but can't get it out there. You can't find a reporter that wants to print the story.

So, in an internet age, you self publish on a blog. But, you still need anonymity -- maybe you're a whistle-blower, maybe you fear reprisals, maybe you're just not authorized to speak on the subject -- so you publish under a pseudonym.

You are your own anonymous source. Yes? No? I'm not trying to make a declarative statement. I'm really not sure & am just trying to walk you through my thinking.

Would it be different if he was a source for another blogger?

I guess part of what I'm wondering is why anonymity should be protected if you speak in the third person, through someone else, as opposed to in the first person.

And while I don't think the Times has any responsibility to protect a Post source, I think that they would protect a source out of a sense of practicality. Sources often have relationships with several media outlets, and if one burned him, he -- and other sources -- would lose trust in that media outlet.
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OK, here's the deal. Sure, he can be his own anoymous source, but the only deal he makes for anonymity is with himself. So he won't out himself, but that doesn't create an obligation for anyone else to keep his identity secret. If another blog or a publication or anyone finds out who it is and believes it's newsworthy, his identity is fair game.

Make sense?

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Outing Anonymous Bloggers

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