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| Smoky
Mountain News anonymous source policy SMN The Smoky Mountain News rarely uses anonymous sources. When we do, we are asking our readers to trust that the information we are providing is accurate. Therefore, we only use these sources when we are certain in our minds that the benefit to readers is worth asking for their trust. We have adopted a policy that limits the use of anonymous sources to only the most compelling cases. That means that we use this information only when we believe it to be accurate and when the story can’t be told in any other way. Here are the rules we use to govern the use of anonymous sources: • We do not use anonymous sources when sources we can name are obtainable. • Anonymous sources are only used when their identity is known to the reporter covering the story and the newspaper’s editor. • Anonymous sources must have first-hand or direct knowledge about the information they are providing to us. • When we use an anonymous source, as with all reporting, we make every effort to independently verify the information. • When using unnamed sources, we always try to provide the reader with as much information as we can about the motivation of the source and why they requested anonymity. This is to done to help the reader judge the credibility of the source. • We won’t grant anonymity to a source who is using it for personal attacks. Since we only use anonymous sources to make public information that is deemed newsworthy, we won’t allow anyone to hide behind the newspaper to attack someone else. • If a source seeking anonymity knowingly provides false information to the newspaper, the agreement for anonymity is dissolved. |
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