When sources do not want their names to be revealed...

...here's one way to explain to the reader why you have agreed to grant them anonymity:

Markand Adhikari, the promoter of the television production house, Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network Ltd, is launching a music and comedy channel called Mastiii with stand-up comedian Raju Srivastava as its brand ambassador. The channel, to be launched by the end of the month, will offer a mix of general entertainment (mostly comedy shows and spoofs) and music, said a media executive familiar with the matter who asked not to be named before a formal announcement is made.

This is from a Mint news feature by Anushree Chandran on the upcoming launch of a new television channel.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE
Also from Mint (July 3):

Rishad Premji has an MBA degree from Harvard Business School and joined Wipro on 18 July 2007 in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) business after working with GE Capital and Bain and Co. “He was very interested in the security vertical of our BFSI practice and was involved in a couple of key mergers and acquisitions activities, including the acquisition of Gallagher Financial Systems Inc. in the US,” said a senior official of the firm, who did not want to be identified given the way Wipro views succession. The executive added that Rishad Premji’s appearance in the annual report is one way to make him known to the larger shareholder community of the firm.

Read the article about Azim Premji's succession plan at Wipro here.

When an email provides a tip-off

In a story in Mint on June 1 about a Godrej executive facing an embezzlement charge, the reporter Joel Rebello wrote about his source thus:

A Mint reader, who requested that his name be not used, provided information about the case in an email sent on Sunday. The fraud surfaced when the jewellers approached GCPL after Gaine couldn’t be reached in February, prompting the firm to seize his laptop and start an investigation, a company spokesperson said.

Read the full story here.