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New York Times' decision to publish anonymous column carries risks

12 Comments
By DAVID BAUDER

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I really loathe the media's fixation with this story and how ready Trump mouthpieces are to exploit it. Like how people keep trying to pretend it must be a liberal doing the leaking, even though the story itself is an almost cliche articulation of conventional Republican talking points.

We already knew the Trump regime is a dysfunctional mess. We already knew he surrounds himself with self-important blow-hards eager to stab each other in the back for the slightest bit of prestige. The op-ed adds nothing to the national discourse, other than some vague republican propaganda that the GOP can still be trusted and empty comments about how we should "reach across the aisle", coming from a member of the ruling party that dominates all three branches of government and is particularly infamous for never reaching across the aisle.

The person who wrote this op-ed is a coward. They don't get points for claiming to subvert the Trump agenda in the dark if they aren't willing to stand against him to his face.

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Anonymous sources, like Trump, have been a part of the media landscape for decades. When used ethically, they are an important part of democracy, being a check against the overreach of powerful entities.

However, it's not inconceivable to think that someone could make up, or over-represent, an anonymous source. I'm sure it's happened, though I have not bothered to do a fact check on this statement.

So it's never a bad idea to have a talk about anonymous sources, and what the expectations are for their use. This article is such a discussion - it brings up the risks of using anonymous sources. The media should be clearly aware of these risks when using such sources, to make sure that the usage of them is in an ethical and honest manner.

What is a mistake is anyone who thinks the conversation either discredits the use of anonymous sources, or indicates that they should never be used. Both of these are fundamentally incorrect conclusions to be made from simply having the conversation.

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I think it was Trump. Oh ... that can't be, it was over 140 characters. Sorry. I'm wrong.

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IMO, the only risk to the NYT will be to its reputation, if the anonymously sourced article is found to be bogus. Given the immensely good reputation of the NYT, it is just about impossible, at this point, for me to believe that they would intentionally lie to the public. There are lots and lots of journalists who knowingly lie to the public, aka Fox News, but the NYT has a stellar reputation, and rightfully so.

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Burning BushToday  09:54 am JST

My anonymous source tells me that the anonymous source used by the NYT was a fake.

The difference being that the New York Times has 150 years of overwhelmingly ethical journalism, to the degree that they've won more Pulitzer Prizes than any other paper. While that might not mean we should automatically believe everything the NYT prints, it does mean that aside from fanatics ideologues in the Trump propaganda corps, people don't assume something in the NYT is false unless they have compelling evidence.

You on the other hand, don't.

Let me be clear, my problem isn't with the reporting of anonymized sources. My problem is with gutless Republicans trying to pretend they're confronting the Trump regime without actually taking meaningful steps to stop it, the sort of people who imply themselves to be part of "the resistance" while also turning up their nose at the real people who have the courage to stand up to the regime and face the consequences that entails. I have no problem with a news organization not revealing their sources, my contempt is exclusively for the coward who wrote this particular op-ed.

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The only person left is the janitor.

No. The butler.

The difference being that the New York Times has 150 years of overwhelmingly ethical journalism, ...

But, sometimes ... For a fun read see the story of The New York Times writer Jayson Blair who resigned from the paper in 2003:

”After internal investigations, The New York Times reported on Blair's journalistic misdeeds in an "unprecedented"[14] 7,239-word front-page story on May 11, 2003, headlined "Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception."[2] The story called the affair "a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper."

The Times must have made a miraculous climb out of its admitted trough.

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My problem is with gutless Republicans trying to pretend they're confronting the Trump regime without actually taking meaningful steps to stop it, the sort of people who imply themselves to be part of "the resistance" while also turning up their nose at the real people who have the courage to stand up to the regime and face the consequences that entails. I have no problem with a news organization not revealing

their sources, my contempt is exclusively for the coward who wrote this particular op-ed.

Easy to be brave without your reputation, family, career, and possible all their govt retirement benefits at stake. If they move too quickly, nothing will be gained except total loss of everything (20-40 yrs) and Trump will remain in power.

Plus, since they are probably long-time Republicans, this will burn half their former contacts. They'd be forced to get help from, cough, Democrats.

Snowden got off easy, since he was early in his career and didn't have much more than a reputation and paycheck to loose.

Your moral code is so much higher than everyone elses', it must be terrible seeing almost the entire world not meet your standards. BTW, the same could have been said about the insiders for Clinton, Johnson, Nixon, GWBush and perhaps Obama. They did nothing.

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Use your freedom of speech, freedom of speech.

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I don't think anyone in the Trump administration penned a letter saying they were betraying him. I think it is a manipulation to get Trump to implode on himself.

Duped by a USC student, someone ran the "essay" through http://turnitin.com . It showed as a 100% match to a USC student essay, turned in without citation - making it an original essay-sept 5-overachiever! Archived & submitted to the repository within minutes of New York Times.

The treason piece was submitted as part of a college essay by a USC student on September 5th. It did not originate within the white house.

The MSM figured it sounded good so they published it to sow discord within the Trump administration, and attempt to get Trump to self-destruct the white house.

So basically the New York Times dug up a college essay within minutes of it hitting the college archives and becoming searchable. Then published it with a fabricated back story to cause the Trump administration to implode on itself. That's quite a psych war tactic I must say!!

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