Sources

This week we have been talking about sources.  We have discussed whether anonymous sources should be used in scholastic media or not, as well as the importance of using a variety of sources.  Yesterday on the JEA listserve there was an email with the subject line "What to do when a source changes his/her mind?" The email was about a high school who was covering a local community college story.  The president, who had his share of controversy, was retiring and receiving a nice severance package.  The community was outraged at the amount he was receiving, which was what the story was focusing on - the community response.  The student journalist had interviewed, on the record, a professor at the college.  A few days after the professor emailed the student and said that nothing in the interview could be used without any explanation.  The adviser was emailing the listserv for advice.  This email really caught me off guard.  When I was thinking about whether or not anonymous sources should be used in a scholastic newspaper, I never even considered a source changing their mind.  Being a relatively new adviser there are many situations that I have never even thought of that happen all the time.   My first thought was to make a policy so that if we have these problems come up we will have a plan in place already.  However, I realistically know that won't work.  Every situation is different and handled individually.  It makes me uneasy but I think that situations that deal with anonymous sources and even sources backing out are something that you can't plan for.  I just have to teach my students to be the best journalists they can be.