If you’re one of those folks who complain about media use of anonymous sources, you won’t like this: Use of anonymous sources has been pretty much declining since the 1970s, and the current use is about what it was in 1958.
The numbers were compiled by Matt Duffy, a professor at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi who worked on the study with Prof. Ann E. Williams of Georgia State University.
The slides from Duffy’s upcoming presentation — slated for the upcoming conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication — are posted here, and the data is summarized in an excellent Poynter article. Duffy noted that even in the 21% of stories using anonymous sources, reporters now do a better job of explaining the reasons.