The question of when a journalist ought to grant a source anonymity is one the profession is always wrestling with. Most major publications’ journalistic standards share a broad consensus: anonymity should be the exception rather than the rule, there should be healthy scepticism of the motives behind a source seeking anonymity, and in general it should only be granted in cases where the livelihood, reputation, or personal safety of the source — or the source’s loved ones — are potentially at risk from their disclosure.
It’s deadly serious — the protection of whistleblowers and sources has to be something journalists are willing to go to prison over.
Take the weekend’s state by-elections in Victoria. The aftermath of a major swing against the ALP in the heartland seat of Werribee, coupled with an early victory for new Opposition Leader Brad Battin as the Liberals pried Prahran away from the Greens, was apparently sufficiently fraught to require protection for a shocking number of the people quoted.
We can only be grateful to the brave souls willing to go semi-public with the following searing insights:
“Obviously, there is still work to do, but on the whole it shows if we can get the messaging right, there is definitely a mood against Labor,” a heroic Coalition frontbencher told the Australian Financial Review. “Our biggest challenge is how we can take that strong move against state Labor and capitalise on it federally”.
We can’t even imagine how many hours of pleading it must have taken to pry that kind of information out. “It cannot, it MUST not, become public that I told a journalist that we have to get our messaging right,” the Coalition frontbencher (probably) said, eyes darting around the underground car park they’d insisted on as a meeting place lest they be followed. “If it gets out that I was wondering how the federal Liberals might capitalise on a swing against the state Labor Party ahead of a federal election, well, I’m fuckin’ finished.”
Meanwhile, we can viscerally conjure the cold sweat that must have flushed across the following federal Labor MP’s forehead as they referenced the fact that both parties had a weak primary vote: “People are unhappy with Labor but unconvinced by the Libs,” they said, presumably after satisfying themselves that they could be securely transported to a safe house if it got out they’d made that kind of explosive sentiment public. “You don’t understand, man,” they must have spluttered. “You don’t know what they’d do to my family if they knew I was pointing out that people were unhappy with Labor but unconvinced by the Libs.”
A state Labor MP also told the paper: “[Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has] been doing the best she can with the cards she was dealt. We’ve just got to stay disciplined. Without a doubt, there’s a big swing against us, and so we have to do better. The message is that more money has to be invested in Werribee for community services, roads and infrastructure.” This offers such a chilling insight into the mechanics of power in Australia, one can only imagine it being said by someone with an altered voice and pixelated face.
As for the Liberal MP who told The Australian that the result showed how “toxic” the Labor brand had become in Victoria, potentially bringing more federal seats into play in 2025, well, we can only advise you to make sure your affairs are all in order, and to stay away from the windows of the motel you’re currently laying low in.
So there you have it. The use of anonymous sources should only be used to help potentially vulnerable sources get important information about the powerful onto the public record OR when you need some lukewarm bulking agent for a piece. Oh, and sometimes it can be used if you want to help the party of government isolate and discredit a misbehaving backbencher. As a treat.
Personally, if journalists are going to allow politicians to risklessly put their takes out there, I say we must insist they at least feature an impressive and entertaining level of swearing, such as the following assessment of former PM Scott Morrison’s strategy at the 2022 election:
He fucked us and his fingerprints are absolutely fuckin’ everywhere on that. The bloke thinks he is a master strategist. He is a fuckwit.
Have something to say about this article? Write to us at letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication in Crikey’s Your Say. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
