Covert Disclosures: Unauthorised leaking, public officials and the public

This paper highlights the role of unofficial sources—unauthorized “leakers”—in the public sector and their contribution to investigative journalism and to a lesser extent to routine news production. Unauthorized sources do not enjoy the ease of access to journalists, the economic resources, the human resources, nor the legitimacy conferred on official sources. Interviews conducted with journalists and sources show that at times these barriers have been overcome through the establishment of relationships of trust based on the confidentiality of the identity of the source and through careful cross-checking by journalists of information supplied by leakers.