At CPAC last week, President Trump blasted the media’s reliance on anonymous sources, saying that “[t]hey shouldn’t be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody’s name.”
Much has been made on the deluge of leaks coming out of the Trump administration. These bits of unauthorized information have apparently helped scuttled a number of White House actions before they become reality, and have roiled a Trump ecosystem that values loyalty above most everything else.
Critics of anonymous sources, including many media ethicists, argue that their use could too easily be abused. But supporters say that anonymous sources are an important tool to help keep the Trump administration, with its inclination for secrecy, in check.
Guests:
Judy Muller, an award-winning television journalist and a professor of journalism at USC
Jane Kirtley, professor of media ethics and law at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota