After Bradley J. Fikes pointed out that Tim Rutten’s egregious Beauchamp column used anonymous sources, I dug up the L.A. Times‘s policy on anonymous sources. I then posted that Rutten’s use appeared to violate the paper’s policy against anonymous sources’ providing “self-serving” material.

Bradley suggested that I write “Readers’ Representative” Jamie Gold about this. I encouraged him to do so, since he first raised the issue, and I have been very busy.

Bradley did so, and has received a (preliminary) reply which appears to acknowledge that Rutten’s use of anonymous sources violated policy. Gold’s reply says in part:

Thanks for asking, Mr. Fikes. This isn’t an issue only with Tim Rutten and his column; I see, periodically, similar uses of unnamed sources in the Times that don’t reflect the ethics guidelines.

It doesn’t sound like anything much is going to happen, though. She’s going to discuss it on her new blog, launching sometime in the next several weeks.