In researching state shield laws recently I found that past presidents of the Society of Professional Journalists had written editorials about them.

I couldn’t resist the irony of journalists recycling old editorials into new ones. This is the stuff of bad PR reps, or at least so we were taught.

Here are the opening sentences of Irwin Gratz’s editorial. Gratz was SPJ president in 2004-05:

Regardless of whether you believe anonymous sources are overused or not, there’s little denying reporters sometime need to promise confidentiality. Some of the greatest investigative stories of our age have relied on them.

Now read the opening sentences to Christine Tatum’s editorial. Tatum was SPJ president in 2006-07:

Regardless of whether you think journalists use too many anonymous sources, it’s hard to argue that they don’t need to promise confidentiality sometimes. Many of the biggest investigative stories of our age have been based in part on information shared with a reporter by someone who wanted to keep his or her identity a secret.

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