>>14350925 pb

>citing unidentified sources

uh, word Cotton

"This adds fuel to a simmering controversy in major news organizations all over the country about using unnamed officials and relying on single sources."

The veteran reporter continues, "In my 10 years as national political correspondent for NBC News, there were strict rules. If a source refused to go 'on the record,' the network demanded to know who he was, how he was in a position to have the information he offered and whether we would be advancing his political agenda by reporting the story. Then, without identifying the original source, we could use his information to seek a confirmation. Those standards may have slipped elsewhere.