Anonymous source tracker
Continuously updated examples of the media's use of anonymous sources
"That is very degrading and is uncalled for," said the man, who did not want to be identified to protect his privacy. "HPD did their job by trying to ...
NEWS.com.au
"It's certainly heading that way," a source close to Clarke said. On the same day as the phone call from New Zealand - said to be one of several heated ...
BBC News
A source close to the family had told the BBC they were unaware he had left Pakistan. Mr Malik had previously said police were closing in on the kidnappers. ...
MLB.com
... on Wednesday morning, announcing his retirement at a press conference held by his original team, according to a source close to the former shortstop. ...
TheChronicleHerald.ca
A Halifax psychiatrist, who also asked not to be named, says the switch from institutionalized care to a community-based clinic system has been a failure ...
Reuters
... about where we are in our Iran policy, as we've pivoted from the engagement track to the pressure track," said the official, who asked not to be named. ...
The Associated Press
They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security issues. Despite changes over time, the list remains an imperfect tool, dependent on the ...
Reuters India
... to have dropped by 80 percent to 241000 tonnes in 2009/10 as scanty rains trimmed area and yields, a senior government official said in December. ...
Toronto Star
... shoot an officer unless he was terribly provoked," said a neighbour in the town about 75 kilometres south of North Bay, who declined to give his name. ...
JoongAng Daily
“If we pay the principal and interest all at once, the workout plan won't progress properly,” said a creditor, who requested anonymity. ...
Creative Loafing Tampa
Several sources that refused to be identified said the reason the Partnership's involvement is so crucial is that Mayor Iorio has alienated business groups ...
JoongAng Daily
Look at all the room salons thriving everywhere in this country,§ said the reporter, who refused to be named because his company policy forbids it. ...
Inquirer.net
Another police official, who refused to be named, expressed hope that the signing of the agreement would ease the tension among the candidates and their ...
Wall Street Journal
... CA 150.0 40-day turnaround on 100000- b/d FCCU and alkylation unit beginning first week of March, trading and marketing sources said Feb. 11. ...
Financial-Planning.com
Several sources said Tuesday that the lawmakers were close to agreeing to create a $50 billion fund that would be used to handle resolutions of systemically ...
Financial News (subscription)
A second analyst, who declined to be named, said he believed that a private equity bidder was also possible in a take-private deal as the outlook for the ...
Wall Street Journal
... was removed from his post as deputy editor in chief of the Web site at the Economic Observer, according to people familiar with the situation. ...
CTV.ca
The Canadian, who asked not to be identified, is seen in this image taken from security footage in a Sydney, Australia train station. ...
The Canadian Press
"The letter itself is clear enough and I have nothing to add," said the woman, who refused to give her name. She added that Zhang did not come to work ...
Mayo Free Press
A representative from that office, who declined to give her name, said that the final decision for the numbers of winners will be made by the United States ...
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
She asked to remain anonymous because she knows people whose photos she has posted. "It's not for publicity," she said. "It's for awareness. ...
Wall Street Journal
... to raise around $150 million from the issue but it increased the amount due to strong demand by investors, according to a person close to the operation. ...
Financial Times
... fund Harbinger Capital, have pressed the company to proceed with an IPO sooner rather than later to release liquidity, said a person close to the deal. ...
BusinessWeek
Dubai World, seeking to alter terms on $26 billion of debt, will present a restructuring plan this month, a person close to the government said Feb. 17. ...
TheStreet.com
... Apollo 65 real estate investments in 26 countries with a net asset value of $3.5 billion, Bloomberg reports, citing a person close to the negotiations. ...
5,264 examples for 1,388 news outlets found since Feb. 10, 2010
The anonymous source tracker is an experiment, and as such it's imperfect and subject to change.
While it finds many examples of the use of anonymous sources, it doesn't find all anonymous sources used by newspapers, magazines, TV stations, wire services or other news outlets online.
It gets its examples from Google News. Phrases commonly used to identify anonymous sources are fed to Google News, which produces an Atom feed for each phrase. Those feeds are then combined under a single label, "anonymous," in Google Reader. That feed is public. Every hour a PHP script grabs the Google Reader feed, extracts the summary text, highlights the anonymous source phrasing, and puts it in a database to display on the anonymous source tracker.
Some examples are rejected, even though the articles they point to used anonymous sources, because the anonymous source phrasing isn't in the summary.
Some examples are duplicates. If a URL is already in the database, those examples are rejected. But sometimes the same story can have different URLs, so the same story can appear more than once. The same wire story may also be run by multiple outlets.
The news outlets scanned are the same outlets scanned by Google News. I don't know what criteria Google News uses to decide whether to include a Web site.
Typically Google returns a search result for a phrase giving a summary for only one outlet, with an "And more" link pointing to other matches for stories on the same subject. The anonymous source tracker doesn't grab those "And more" results, so many examples are undoubtedly missed.
I don't know how Google does what it does or why, or why one outlet is given prominence for a given search while another isn't, so I don't know if all outlets are being treated equally by the anonymous source tracker.
The count for each news outlet doesn't include every anonymously sourced story produced by that outlet. The counts shouldn't be considered valid rankings.
To quote Donald Rumsfeld, "there are known unknowns."
"That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don't know we don't know."
| BusinessWeek | 476 |
| Wall Street Journal | 363 |
| Reuters | 301 |
| New York Times | 153 |
| Washington Post | 122 |
| The Associated Press | 118 |
| Los Angeles Times | 64 |
| New York Daily News | 58 |
| AFP | 51 |
| New York Times (blog) | 49 |
| Livemint | 43 |
| Financial Times | 42 |
| New York Post | 42 |
| Bloomberg | 39 |
| Boston Globe | 37 |
| Philadelphia Inquirer | 36 |
| Economic Times | 32 |
| CNN | 31 |
| ESPN | 29 |
| FOXNews | 25 |
| The Guardian | 25 |
| San Francisco Chronicle | 23 |
| CNN International | 21 |
| msnbc.com | 21 |
| Reuters India | 21 |
| Times of India | 21 |
| Detroit Free Press | 20 |
| MiamiHerald.com | 20 |
| Montreal Gazette | 20 |
| The Star-Ledger - NJ.com | 20 |
| ABC News | 18 |
| San Jose Mercury News | 18 |
| The Canadian Press | 18 |
| Chicago Sun-Times | 17 |
| Hindustan Times | 17 |
| Chicago Tribune | 16 |
| Philadelphia Daily News | 16 |
| Times Online | 16 |
| Boston Herald | 15 |
| Wall Street Journal (blog) | 15 |
| Business Standard | 14 |
| Daily Mail | 14 |
| Globe and Mail | 14 |
| Seattle Times | 14 |
| Sydney Morning Herald | 14 |
| Toronto Star | 14 |
| Vancouver Sun | 14 |
| Examiner.com | 13 |
| Politico | 13 |
| Telegraph.co.uk | 13 |