Anonymous sourcing means 'tweaked' quotes

Ed Cohen raises another valid concern about the rise of anonymous comments in BOTH old and new media. And that is that anonymous comments usually have the commenter "tweaking" the quote before it sees the light of day.

In real life people don’t adjust their quotes. It’s therefore natural that manufactured utterance does not resonate. But everything I’ve experienced in Washington, and heard from journalists there, suggests control over the message has reached obsessive proportions. Even background (anonymous) interviews morph into “background with authorization,” so that a quote from “an official” must pass the review process lest “an official,” should misspeak.

The Obama administration is particularly active in this regard. I’d say one of its chief difficulties in its first year has been shifting from the relentlessly controlling, on-message, no-drama, one-star-in-the-firmament message of a campaign to the different demands of the presidency, where the humanity of America’s leader, his flesh-and-blood fallibility and impulses, assumes central importance.

In other words, BOTH old AND new media that use anonymous sources are becoming ever more propaganda by the day.

Cohen's advice? Obama needs to dial back the anonymous messaging.

Actually, that message really needs to go to Rahm, Bam, Thank You Emanuel. Of course, Obama IS Rahm's boss.