The New York Times>The Public Editor :
"By reading every bylined A-section news story published in December 2003, Williams determined that 40 percent of the articles invoked at least one anonymous source, that the average day's paper brought 36 such sources into the reader's home and that more than half of these people were identified, at least in part, as 'officials.'
...The Times promulgated a revised policy on the use of anonymous sources in February...As it happens, the most important part of the new policy involves something that cannot be checked independently....[In April, the numbers] show a slightly greater rate of anonymous quotation than his December study."