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> The officials were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Anonymous to readers != anonymous to the journalist. The journalist can verify the source, and also guard his or her anonymity for their safety. This is common practice in journalism.

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The problem of "who will guard the guards themselves".

It's "common practice" because it gives unrestricted ability to fabricate any kind of narration without repercussions as nobody can verify it.

Okay, bud. If you're going to make a blanket assertion that the entire journalistic field is nothing but a propaganda machine then there's really nothing I can do for you.

There is a huge reputation problem with the media these days. Bombshell headlines of Trump-Russia collusion evidence comes to mind, driven by anonymous sources.

I wouldn't be worried too much about fabrication by journalists. I assume most of those "leaks" are intentionally dispersed by 3-letter agencies as kind of unofficial press releases.

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