IT IS OBVIOUS that some hard work and some big stories went into The Cavalier Daily last week. There were articles about former University Environmental Sciences Prof. Michael Mann; a series about the University's LGBTQ community; a piece about the role of the Law School's Innocence Project Clinic in freeing a man from prison. There were others, too.
The week began with another ambitious story about a fraternity initiation that sent a student to a hospital and got the fraternity barred from the University at least until 2013. The article ("A warning sign at Zeta Psi," Sept. 5) used a lot of anonymous sources. The paper's managing board realized that at least some readers might have a problem with that, so that day's editorial ("Sincerely, anonymous," Sept. 5) addressed the issue.
"The newspaper is aware of the potential perils of relying on anonymous sources," the managing board wrote. "If a source is not cited by name, he does not have to grapple with issues of accountability. As such, a source with an axe to grind easily could relay misinformation to the paper, which would damage its credibility. One also could argue that if someone does not want to speak on the record, he should not comment at all."
One also could argue that if there is no name attached to a quote - no person to refute or confirm its accuracy - readers have no proof it is not fiction.
Anonymous sources are "ubiquitous in today's journalistic climate," the editorial said. But that does not justify The Cavalier Daily's using anonymous sources, and the managing board said so. It also said it is a "stark reality about contemporary journalism" that "[t]o write the best stories and reveal important information, newspapers are quoting anonymous sources at an almost alarming rate."
Newspapers are quoting anonymous sources at an alarming rate. And sometimes it is necessary to use anonymous sources to get the best stories and reveal important information. Mostly, it is not.
The managing board argued it was necessary this time to "generate an important discussion regarding Greek life's attempt to balance the need to uphold tradition while simultaneously ensuring its members' safety."
Broadly speaking, there are two reasons to use an anonymous source. If someone is likely to face physical danger or lose a job because of what he says, then it may make sense to grant that person anonymity. The anonymously-quoted fraternity presidents were reluctant to speak, the editorial said, "even when granted the condition of anonymity. To speak freely about an important subject - the near death of a pledge as a result of a tradition gone awry - these presidents needed to be protected. Otherwise, they likely would face reprimand from their peers in the Greek community, as commenting about other fraternities' traditions might be frowned upon."
So, the frat guys could not have their names attached to their quotes because other frat guys might be mean to them? That is a weak justification to grant anonymity.
But if the information in those anonymous quotes is really valuable and there is no other way to get that information and writers and editors are convinced the information is dependable, it may be appropriate to use anonymous sources.
From the anonymous quotes in this story, readers learned that the anonymous fraternity presidents seem to think Zeta Psi's punishment was fair. They think the University administration is keeping a close eye on frats now and that some frats may be more careful. At least one of the presidents wants to keep his brothers safe. That is way too little to get in exchange for anonymity.
There is another problem with this story. It declared, "The incident, according to interviews with nine fraternity presidents and brothers from two additional fraternities, revealed the perils of passing down traditions without concern for fraternity members' safety."
The story never established that the action that sent a pledge to the hospital had anything to do with tradition. Those folks who gave the anonymous quotes did not say making people drink soy sauce is a Zeta Psi tradition. They seemed to say they do not know.
Allen Groves, associate vice president and dean of students, was quoted from an email: "I cannot say that what occurred at Zete was a 'tradition,' since the alumni seemed quite surprised by it."
The managing board deserves credit for realizing that using anonymous quotes is a big deal. The board deserves credit for explaining its decision. But it was the wrong decision.\n"The newspaper firmly believes," the managing board declared in the editorial, "that the pursuit of truth must be prioritized ahead of any other journalistic ideal."
Pursuing the truth is important. But so is keeping readers' trust. When a newspaper asks readers to trust it so much that they will believe quotes even when there is no name attached to them, there should be a very good reason. This time, there was not.
Tim Thornton is the ombudsman for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at ombud@cavalierdaily.com.
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