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Guidance: On Describing Christine Blasey Ford's Letter

The letter containing her allegation about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh did not come from an anonymous person. She signed it. So we should not refer to it as an "anonymous letter" or to her account as an "anonymous allegation." Instead, as we have done most times, we should describe the circumstances. She contacted her local member of Congress and then Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and asked that they keep her name confidential.

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.