After favouring anonimity in its earlier decades – a tradition followed by many other investigative publications to protect writers from undue official pressure – Gulf States Newsletter has, in recent years, tended to name those of its correspondents who had contributed to a specific issue and wished to be publicly identified with the publication. In other cases, we believed it worth noting the locations of un-named contributors. Some of those writing for GSN were not identified at all.
However, in light of the trends highlighted in the article above, which show no sign of abating – heightened of the increasing prevalence of digitally-assisted surveillance and certain incidents that have directly affected GSN correspondents – the editors have decided no longer to name contributors’ names or locations in the masthead (known affectionately as the ‘flannel panel’) on page 2.
Key staff are still named, in the practise of the industry. All have a long track record of working as professional journalists and independent researchers.
