IN HAEC VERBA: Washington and Lee University Journalism Professor Edwin H. Wasserman on Posting of Anonymous Hate Speech on Newspaper Internet Sites -- One of the "Threats to Ethical Journalism in the New Media Age" (Excerpt from Media Ethics Magazine)

"Threats to Ethical Journalism in the New Media Age"
(Media Ethics Magazine, July 2010)
By Professor Edwin H. Wasserman
Washington and Lee University
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Professor of Journalism Ethics

(snip)
ACCOUNTABILITY
Here I want to talk about the rise of anonymous comment. In the bad old days, when public comment was sparse, letters to the editor were rare and were carefully edited. Few responsible papers ran unsigned letters, pains were taken to make sure the authors were who they claimed to be.
Somehow, when news organizations went online, that scrupulous insistence on authentication fell away. Papers bought into the idea that robust discourse required anonymity, that people were entitled, indeed had the right, to make whatever comment they liked without having to identify themselves.
Indeed, the latest wrinkle in this is that some news organizations in the U.S. are claiming that anonymous posters deserve the same protection as confidential sources-that people who comment online on a news report are deserving of the same consideration as vulnerable sources who might have been relied on in compiling that report.
Obviously, there's a world of difference between a source whose identity the reporter knows and has agreed to conceal, and a source whose identity is known to nobody.
To be sure, there are times when anonymity is powerfully beneficial. But signing on to a culture of discourse in which nameless and reckless denunciation is normalized is a deeply troubling development.
Here again, the push to do this is coming from managements that want to re-establish on the Internet the centrality their news organizations had traditionally held offline, and want to be "the big tent" into which all community discourse is drawn. They fear that enforcing archaic standards-such as insisting that people actually stand by their own words, heaven forbid-will frustrate that marketing objective.
And here again, you see the blithe acceptance of online practice as having normative significance. When in Rome. This is how things are done online, so I guess it's OK.
And finally, you again see a real failure to consider harms. Not only, in this case, defamation. But, in my view, unrestrained, anonymous speech, leads to a bruising, painful style of discourse that actually discourages participation and leads people who might honestly have things to say to sit down and shut up.
(snip)

http://www.mediaethicsmagazine.com/index.php/analysis-commentary/3919175-threats-to-ethical-journalism-in-the-new-media-age


Edward Wasserman became the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation professor of journalism ethics at Washington and Lee University in 2003 after several decades of professional writing and editing-a practice he continues today. His work is available at www.edwardwasserman.com. He may be reached at WassermanE@wlu.edu