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Keywords: Iraq war, anonymous sources, content analysis, whistleblower
Abstract
A study of 528 news items from 11 countries explores how anonymous and unnamed sources were used by journalists during the buildup to the Iraq War. A quarter of all sources appearing in news items were not identified by name. The use of unnamed sources corresponded with a decrease in ideas opposing the war and a tone that presented the war as being more positive and unavoidable. The findings raise questions about whether anonymous and unnamed sources serve the perceived whistleblower function in political discourse.
Introduction
The image conjured up by the term "anonymous source" may be that of Deep Throat, the unnamed and, up until his death in 2008, unknown government source who guided journalists at The Washington Post in their reporting of the Watergate scandal that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon. Deep Throat is portrayed by journalism practitioners as a whistleblower: a source who helps reporters get information that cannot be obtained in any other way, who is in obvious opposition to political leaders, and who assists the media in their role as political watchdogs (Brown, 2005).
However, a rich body of work exploring the role of media in a political system shows that, driven by ideals that place high value on credible, verifiable information, journalists favor official sources who tend to frame an issue in a way that is congruent with political leaders; these sources speak in a tone that tends to reinforce the position of government leaders rather than challenge it (Bennett, 1990; Schudson, 2003). The goal of this study is to explore the long-held assumption that journalists break from their routines when they use unnamed and anonymous sources in political reporting. It asks: Does the presence of anonymous sources in political reporting lead to news content that challenges the ideas of political leaders? Or, is there evidence that anonymous sources are being used by political actors to reinforce and even strengthen their own positions? This study explores the use of anonymous sources using a long history of media sociology research that explains the journalist-source relationship as one intimately tied to the political institution and the dominant messages of the sources that Schudson refers to...