Spectrum

During the scramble to be the first and provide the best possible coverage of the ongoing Trump/Russia investigations, credible news organizations have published numerous stories based upon “leaks” from sources who are listed as “anonymous” or described without using their names or titles. Some Administration officials decry “leakers” and infer that they are not credible and chastise news entities for using the information from these unnamed sources. Some officials call stories based on anonymous sources “fake news.” Journalists, however, often must rely on these anonymous tips to get the facts and after the stories and sources are completely vetted – the resulting story is anything but “fake news.” Often these stories are, in fact, the most reliable types of stories. They must, however, be what Andrew Alexander calls – subject to “prosecutorial editing” – severe editing for fairness, credibility and accuracy. Alexander is a former Washington Post ombudsman, a former Washington Bureau chief for Cox Newspa