The death of journalism began with the ubiquitous use of “Anonymous sources claim…”

How many partisan hatchet jobs began using that old technique and called it journalism? All ya gotta do is just make up some crazy bullshit lie and attribute it to an alleged “anonymous source close to….insert victims name here.”

“Anonymous sources close to the Clinton Administration claim to have personally witnessed President Clinton beating Vince Foster to death with a hammer and then rolling his dead body up in a carpet. We’ll have more on this breaking story as it develops.”

This kind of “journalism” has been going on for years and no one has ever called any of these people on it.

No wonder Joe seems shocked that he’s getting called out. It’s just business as usual for journalists to make stuff up, attribute it to an alleged “source” and then rattle off whatever character assassination they want.

“Anonymous sources deep within the Democratic party are reporting that the Dems plan on personally hand over 16 nuclear warheads to Osama bin laden as well as one trillion in cash. We’ll have more on this story as it develops.”

It’s all so easy to just lie, lie, lie and get away with it.

If some really calls you on it all you have to do is print a small retraction on the back page SIX MONTHS LATER or just shrug your shoulders and claim that you haven’t “finished verifying” your sources claims.

I applaud Glenn, but it won’t do any good. This isn’t about one reporter or one editor or one magazine. The whole system is corrupt from top to bottom.

Make it illegal to attribute anything to an anonymous source and suddenly all these problems go away.

... It needs to be pointed out, and emphasized that this is not an isolated instance - this is chronic. Their next fallback line is gonna be something like an apology for a "single error in an otherwise good process". This needs to be headed off - preferably BEFORE the fact.

Much like the mailbox of Time yesterday when I tried to send them some thoughts.

Unfortunately, nothing will come of this. Karl Rove gleefully exported lies and misleading statements for years, and now he writes for Newsweek.

Klein is one of the Traditional Media Elders. He won't be fired, probably won't even get a slap on the wrists.

That and the refusal to aknowledge that there is such a thing as objective truth by our DC media are the main issues here.

When a confidential source feeds false information to a reporter and that information becomes the backbone of a false story then that act itself becomes the story and ethics demand that source be revealed. Hidden interests feeding false information to reproters for their own agenda is NEWS in and of itself and MUST BE exposed. Otherwise- that reporter and his outfit are merely propaganda organs of those interests and are not "news" organizations at all- they are whores.

Read any given piece about "Al Qaeda" or about Iraq in this country and you will rarely see named sources. What if these sources are lying to them? How do we know? How do we know everything we have been told about "al Qaeda" for example is even marginally true? There are no consequences to these sources for lying to the likes of Klein. They have shown that not only will they protect lying sources but they will use them again and again! Over and over!

In the lead up to the Iraq war- one of the favorite tricks of this administration was leaking "intelligence" to reporters who would then write it up without so much as any oppossing view as fact and then the same officials who leaked it or had it leaked would cite these stories to back up their claims!

We don't have a "Free media" in this country. We have sycophants to power who are literally intermarried with the beltway elite. They all live in the DC area. They all send their kids to the same schools. Go to the same parks. Jog the same streets. Belong to the same clubs. Our national reporters are part of the Beltway oligarchy. They exist to serve it and lie for it.

...but we must continue to insist that journalists reveal their sources when those sources have clearly lied to them.

Things have regressed to the point that people can "lie" with regularity and not be called out for it anymore. Karl Rove is an excellent example. Quite some time ago, he appropriated the "right" to say whatever the hell he wants, and the only repercussion is that he's labeled a "partisan." His recent Wall Street Journal Op Ed was just the latest example. There were literally dozens of outright falsehoods and misleading assertions, yet instead of those statements being labeled as "lies" they are labeled as "spin" or "opinions."

No wonder so few people have the stomach to follow politics anymore. Which not coincidentally, is exactly what the Republicans want--for the least amount of people to be involved in the process as possible. And even Time magazine doesn't have the "time" to figure out who's right anymore. Just transcribe what people say, and then go on to the next story.

"Move along folks, nothing to see here..."

It is not surprising that Congressional Dems and their aids make no complaint about this. Klein, Time, Kurtz, Limbaugh, etc and their ilk are the ones who hold a "Bully Pulpit". And you're right Glenn, while they wield absolute power over their propaganda they are devoid of ethics.

unfortunately, it seems that there is nothign to nail him to

A

unfortunately, it seems that there is nothing to nail him to

A

Get over it, Glenn. In a country where just printing lies can make them true, and perception equals facts, well, you just have to give your side and hope someone believes you. Face it, no one cares about the lies anymore. They have become fact. There WERE WMDs in Iraq, Valerie Plame was a janitor at CIA, Saudi Arabia is our friend, all true. Why? Because things look a lot better that way. So once again, get over it, Glenn. You'll just drive yourself mad trying to keep to the 'truth', whatever that is.