Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

You Have My Word

You Have My Word Journalists’ reliance on confidential sources for their articles is a lynchpin of journalistic practice. If journalists are unable to provide certain sources anonymity, ‘it is likely that critical information benefiting the public will not be passed on’ (Wade, 2014, p. 555). Public debate is thereby damaged as it ‘hides corruption, it undermines accountability and it fundamentally undermines the capacity for society to provide a safer, nurturing environment in which citizens can participate’ (ibid.). This article focuses on three important aspects of journalist source confidentiality: journalists’ authority to give confidentiality undertakings; the entry into such undertakings; and the types of sources, including the related question of who instigates such undertakings. This study draws on the results of an Australian survey conducted in 2014. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Asia Pacific Media Educator SAGE

Loading next page...
 
/lp/sage/you-have-my-word-UekRiyEs0A

References (2)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© 2015 University of Wollongong, Australia
ISSN
1326-365X
eISSN
2321-5410
DOI
10.1177/1326365X15604947
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Journalists’ reliance on confidential sources for their articles is a lynchpin of journalistic practice. If journalists are unable to provide certain sources anonymity, ‘it is likely that critical information benefiting the public will not be passed on’ (Wade, 2014, p. 555). Public debate is thereby damaged as it ‘hides corruption, it undermines accountability and it fundamentally undermines the capacity for society to provide a safer, nurturing environment in which citizens can participate’ (ibid.). This article focuses on three important aspects of journalist source confidentiality: journalists’ authority to give confidentiality undertakings; the entry into such undertakings; and the types of sources, including the related question of who instigates such undertakings. This study draws on the results of an Australian survey conducted in 2014.

Journal

Asia Pacific Media EducatorSAGE

Published: Dec 1, 2015

There are no references for this article.