If, for instance, they have heard something from the postman, they attribute it to “a semi-official statement”; if they have fallen into conversation with a stranger at a bar, they can conscientiously describe him as “a source that has hitherto proved unimpeachable.” It is only when the journalist is reporting a whim of his own, and one to which he attaches minor importance, that he defines it as the opinion of “well-informed circles.”
ATTRIBUTION:
Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966), British novelist. The Essays, Articles and Reviews of Evelyn Waugh, ed. Donat Gallagher (1983). “Well-Informed Circles and How to Move in Them,” (1939).
