Gadzooks & Pincus

   A panel discussion on Anonymous Sources with powerbrokers from news outlets across the country at the American Society of Newspaper Editors national conference in Seattle, 2006. Steele is with the Poynter Institute, a think tank for journalists. Mike Fancher, is an executive editor with The Seattle Times. Walter Pincus, of The Washington Post, speaks on the uses, danger and value of anonymity in sourcing. Pincus is a colleague of Bob Woodward at The Post. Pincus broke the story on Joe Wilson's research trip to Niger and subsequent criticism of President Bush's false claims of Iraq securing uranium for WMDs. Pincus is now reporting on the satellite that threatens to crash to Earth with deadly toxins and the government's efforts to shoot it down. 

   Pincus, 72, is an old-fashioned scribe who does the heavy lifting of traditional journalism. He fact checks. He asks defining questions. He calls on serious sources to tell the truth, not be a stenographer to the powerful. You have to love a guy who carries clips in his suit to buttress his arguments with facts, not opinions. According to a Vanity Fair article (April, 2006) on the checks and balances between the press and the executive branch, Pincus and Woodward weighed sources and evidence against President Bush's claims on WMDs. They fought to get a story on The Post's front page. They failed before an editor's desire to bury it lower in the paper. Eventually, they persevered to get the story on A-1. Regardless, Iraq was invaded.