Blogger Vivian Paige faced an interesting issue recently, when she received an anonymous letter raising concerns about goings-on, apparently political in nature, in her city of Norfolk, Virginia.  Vivian did some investigating and the matter seemed to check out.  Still, she was hesitant to post the letter, or information it contained, given that it was anonymous.  Vivian then asked her readers to vote on whether she should post it.  The vast majority of those voting said she should, but Vivian ultimately decided not to.   She noted that she always signs her name to her own words, because “Good, bad, or indifferent, the reader knows who’s writing.”

What’s particularly interesting is that Vivian was addressing this issue at the same time that the public editor of the New York Times wrote a piece saying that the NYT is not following its own policy regarding anonymous sources.  Clark Hoyt says that since January 1, anonymous sources have been quoted 240 times.  While the NYT’s policy is that anonymous quotes should be used only as a last resort when an article is of compelling public interest and there is not other way to get the story, the reality is that anonymous sources have been cited in pieces on how apartment building lobbies are decorated and how the Washington Post handled Doonesbury.   Hoyt quoted NYT editors (by name!) as saying they are going to try to tighten things up.

So, what we see here is that bloggers are starting to face the kind of quandaries encountered by traditional media.  Traditional media are trying to generate more and more content with fewer staff, due to advent of blogs, and trying to find sources willing to go on the record with quotes may just be too time-consuming in a lot of cases.   If you go out to do a story on decor of apartment building lobbies and you have a lot of other assignments on your plate, how much time are you going to put into finding someone to quote by name?

These are just a couple of observations on the complex issue of anonymity.  In a world where information, true or not, can spread globally moments after it’s been keyed in, and has a perpetual cyber life, it’s a very serious topic. Your thoughts?