Great journalism requires great courage, Neil Reynolds told a packed Kinsella Auditorium Thursday night.
The newspaper editor delivered St. Thomas University’s 9th annual Dalton Camp lecture in journalism. He’s been an editor at papers such as the Vancouver Sun and Ottawa Citizen and is now editor-at-large of the province’s three daily newspapers.
Reynolds’ lecture, “The Last Commandment: Thou Shall Not Beguile,” focused on the use of anonymous sources in print journalism.
In societies with freedom of speech, Reynolds said we must “encourage courage” by using credible sources with a name and face.
“What is the point of having a freedom if you do not use it?” Reynolds said,as he examined the faces of young journalists before him.
“From courage, perhaps, will come credibility,” he said.
In Canada, there is “no constitutional right to shield the identity of an anonymous source.” It would be unfair for journalists to have a privilege against this, Reynolds said, because everyone is a writer – in some way – these days. If anonymity is carried into the future, there will be no point to freedom of speech.
Reynolds said journalists need to put in the extra effort to find a person willing to speak instead of settling for the first person they find, who may not want to reveal his or her name.
“There are more important things than the next day’s story,“ he said. “Deep Throat did not bring down Richard Nixon.”
Reynolds said anonymous sources, although he never used one in over 50 years as a journalist, occur frequently when a source asks to remain nameless. Essentially, they are forfeiting their own freedom of speech.
Their requests for anonymity come from fear of losing employment, harming their reputations, or because the source is unwilling to own their words as truth.
“Why the pretense? Why the fear?” asked Reynolds. “It was for this that our ancestors died for freedom of speech? It is for this that 36 journalists around the world have died this year in the line of duty?”
Reynolds recognized that anonymity is a “lethal kind of power” and “highly contagious.”
“When anonymous sources lie, newspapers lie,” said Reynolds.
Print journalism, “in the old days” often gathered information through anonymous sources which led to false reporting.
Today’s technology brings anonymity to the forefront of the internet and Reynolds warns viewers to “take trust as seriously as we take technology.” Journalists should be weary and critical while collecting information.
“Don’t beguile and don’t be beguiled,” warns Reynolds.
Reynolds, in his past positions as editor, prohibited the use of anonymous sources in his newsroom.
Although – with a laugh from the audience – he jokes that once he’s gone, anonymous sources are usually permitted again.
Sticking to his no-anonymity practice, he ended his lecture with a burst of laughter, applause and a highly credible statement:
“The gospel truth is, my name is Neil Reynolds and I approve this message.”
