2023-11-23 13:06:49
The London Times first mentioned the name Thomas Barnes on May 8, 1841, on its obituaries page. Of course, the deceased was not just anyone, but the long-standing editor of this respected daily newspaper. For contemporaries, this discretion was less astonishing than it seems to today’s hindsight, because at that time other European newspapers also used to keep the names of their journalists secret. The Swiss sociologist Felix Keller recently wrote a report worth reading about the origins of this so-called “editorial secret” and the controversies that ultimately brought about its end.
From a sociological perspective, permitted secrecy is an instrument of role separation. Where behavior in one role violates expectations gained in another, the unfamiliarity of the name and therefore the person can ensure that the violation remains unpunished. In exactly this sense, many press informants still prefer to remain anonymous today because this role does not fit with the one that gives them access to explosive information.
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