speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to comment.

This is turning into one of the most often read/heard phrases in any news article produced on just about any subject you can imagine. If this were a truly righteous world, 99.999% of the time that this phrase appeared in a story a reporter and a news editor would be fired. This phrase has come to represent the worst aspects of and most of what is wrong with the news. It is a cheap, lazy way for a reporter to complete a story. They speak with someone not authorized or allowed to speak to the press to get an angle. It is both intellectually lazy and dishonest and a REAL reporter would not do this nor countenance its use.