The following is an excerpt from a June/July 2007 article in the American Journalism Review by senior contributing writer Lori Robertson. The article is entitled "Kind of Confidential" and can be found here. 

Seattle Post-Intelligencer chief investigative reporter Eric Nalder says some reporters too readily accept information on background or blithely accept as fact that political sources, such as congressional staffers, can't talk on the record.

Nalder begins his confidential source relationships with the belief that the source will eventually go on the record. His agreements start with a conversation on background. What he says to the source varies, but usually, he says, "I tell the person that at some point in the near future I am still going to try to get you to go on the record and as you become more comfortable with the process of my reporting..that you're very likely to go on the record." Nalder calls it a psychological technique to get the source to start thinking about the need to go on the record. He then explores "their reluctance," examining why the source can't be named. That process has led some to go on the record, he says. Nalder later uses a technique he calls "racheting" to get one piece of information attributed, then another, then another.