Boiling Point Policy on Anonymous Sources

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To our readers,

The Boiling Point has long held a strict policy on when it is permissible to quote anonymous sources.

Anonymous sources are only used as a last resort, as without one’s name attached to a quote, a person may share views that are driven by a personal agenda or are not necessarily truthful.

Sometimes, however, the only way people will be willing to share information is if they can speak off the record. Otherwise, they may be held back by a fear of challenging authority figures or a commonly held opinion.

Thus, The Boiling Point uses anonymous sources only when all four of these conditions are met:

1. The quote is critical to the story and the story is critical to the newspaper.
2. Information provided by anonymous source cannot be obtained in any other way.
3. Any facts presented by the interviewee have been verified by at least three other people.
4. Faculty adviser Mrs. Joelle Keene knows the identities of the anonymous source(s).