PR people desire the anonymity as "spokespersons" for numerous bureaucratic reasons, some of which may or may not make sense to reporters, as illustrated recently by Samsung and Weber Shandwick.

But as long as the PR person provides the reporter with a fair and accurate and truthful answer to his query – who cares who gave him the information? The fact is that PR people can be a lot more candid if they know they can trust a journalist to honor their request for some degree of anonymity...

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