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A few days before Donald Trump’s second inauguration, Heather Tirado Gilligan, the managing editor of El Tímpano (The Eardrum), a small local newsroom in California known for covering the Bay Area’s Latino and Mayan communities, launched an updated guide to protecting immigrant sources. The new policy called for identifying any individuals who were not public figures or experts by their first name and last initial—and, in certain circumstances, using a pseudonym. “We realized right away that our sources were going to need additional protection with the upcoming Trump administration,” Tirado Gilligan said.
El Tímpano is one of a large number of publications, especially those that write about or for immigrant communities, wrestling with what sorts of additional measures they should take to protect the people they cover. Many of these outlets are simply doubling down on extensive policies they’ve had for years; others are taking novel steps, including going out of their way to help potential subjects understand the implications of talking to the press.
At the Miami Herald, senior editor Jay Ducassi recently sought—and received—approval to liberalize the paper’s policy on anonymous sourcing for immigrants, inspired by a request from Syra Ortiz-Blanes, the paper’s immigration reporter. Ducassi, who has been at the paper—including a brief stint with its Spanish-language sister publication El Nuevo Herald—since 1999, is characteristically skeptical about using unnamed sources, but he believes the times merit a new approach. “It’s not our job to make Immigration [and Customs Enforcement]’s job easier by identifying targets,” he said. “So, if people are telling us something of importance about their own experience, about what they fear they may be going through if they lose their status, and they want some level of anonymity, we’re going to be sympathetic to that.”
At Documented, a digital publication dedicated to reporting with and for immigrant communities in New York City, special projects and investigations editor Max Siegelbaum said he doesn’t like to use fake names (“it’s an integrity issue”) but added that he was making an effort to ensure potential sources or subjects know about any implications of speaking to a reporter. “Once we publish information about your life, that will be public and we don’t know what sort of response the government will have,” he said he tells interviewees. “We don’t know what sort of response the public will have. We can’t control that. It’s highly possible that it’ll be bad and will hurt you or your family, and we can’t control that if that does happen. We can continue to report on it, but it’s not necessarily a situation we can fix.” He often concludes: “Having said all that, I do think it’s important that you share your story, and we can tell the public about what’s happening to you.”
Uriel García, who covers immigration at the Texas Tribune, said his paper usually seeks to avoid anonymous sources as well, but he has recently backed off trying to persuade undocumented migrants to speak openly and by name. “There was a time where I comfortably could say, ‘Going public with your story can make a positive impact,’” García said. “However, if they tell me they don’t want to talk or they don’t want to be mentioned in the story at all, I leave it alone. I don’t necessarily push.”
Some publications told CJR that they’re finding—perhaps not surprisingly—that even with additional safety measures, many immigrants are more reluctant to participate in newsgathering. The team at Enlace Latino NC, a Spanish-language digital news nonprofit in North Carolina, was recently disappointed by a potential podcast subject who canceled three times for one episode about the end of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans. “We offered to change her name, modify her voice, and ensure that only audio would be used, with no visual elements that could identify her,” said Paola Jaramillo, the publication’s cofounder. “However, fear has prevailed, making the interview impossible to carry out.”
Still, other sources seem undeterred. Tirado Gilligan said El Tímpano still has regular support and interaction from subjects and subscribers, despite the risks. For a recent photo-essay, titled “‘Strength’ and ‘Uncertainty’” (or “‘Fortaleza’ y ‘Incertidumbre’” in its Spanish version), immigrants were asked to pose for portraits to go alongside an audio or text presentation of how they were feeling ahead of the inauguration. Instead of their faces, El Tímpano showed the subjects holding up dry-erase boards with a few words describing their moods. “We’re just trying to think of ways to be smart and strategic about how we’re using multimedia…without revealing people’s identities,” Tirado Gilligan said.
To be extra cautious, her reporters carry with them paper copies of a fact sheet titled “Talking to Journalists: What You Need to Know,” in English and Spanish, and have also taken steps to discourage subscribers from sending sensitive information over their SMS service. “We’re thinking about how to level the field between journalists and sources,” she said. “We want them to be equipped with that information where they are making an informed decision to talk to us, and they know that there might be risks involved.” She finds it moving that people continue to volunteer to speak up. “That’s a remarkable testament to people understanding the power of storytelling,” she said.
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