Every once in awhile, The ‘Burnian writers pitch stories that use anonymous or confidential interviews and sources. Occasionally, we even have students, faculty or staff approach us about writing an anonymous article. However, it has always been our policy not to accept anonymous or confidential articles or sources, because we know that this type of practice can compromise our credibility and integrity.
The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics advises: “Consider sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Reserve anonymity for sources who may face danger, retribution or other harm, and have information that cannot be obtained elsewhere. Explain why anonymity was granted.” The New York Times also bans anonymity, except in extreme cases, in which one of three top editors must grant permission.
There have been extremely rare occasions in which exceptions to our policy are made. This issue, for example, includes a news piece entitled “BC Cares: An Anonymous Resource” in which a confidential source is quoted several times.
This particular article was accepted with a confidential source because BC Cares is an anonymous system, and because we believe it is beneficial to the Blackburn community. Students, faculty and staff are able to contact the BC Cares team via email if they have any concerns with their academics, their work program positions or their social lives. This article was written by one of the editors, and was approved by the editorial staff, which consists of the co-editors and the faculty adviser.
In the past six years, we have only run one article written by a confidential source, and this was a story of rape. In this case, an unnamed Blackburn student approached the editorial staff, asking if he could write the story to raise awareness about rape on campus. We only run anonymous or confidential articles if the editorial staff sincerely believes it is in the best interests of the Blackburn community.
We feel that it is necessary to justify our reasoning to our writers, as well as to our readers. Our policy is to not accept anonymous articles or sources, except on very rare occasions.
If you have any questions, concerns, or news tips, feel free to contact us at burnian@blackburn.edu.