“Live by the anonymous quote, die by the anonymous quote,” said a Pentagon spokesman Monday after Newsweek magazine retracted its Koran-in-the-toilet story.

And he wasn’t just speaking figuratively. At least 15 people have died in several countries where outraged Muslims rioted to protest the magazine’s original story.

Newsweek seems genuinely grieved by the repercussions of this story, but the damage has been done. Even the retraction will not be believed among people who do not trust or who are looking for fresh reasons to hate the U.S.

We wouldn’t be surprised if Americans are still hearing this story five or 10 years from now, repeated as the truth.

The Newsweek case illustrates one of several dangers associated with the widespread use of anonymous sources by Washington media. Anonymous leakers usually have ulterior motives that are rarely defined in reporting. For example, a “senior government official” might just as easily be described as “an angry guy who was demoted by the person he is now slandering.”

And make no mistake – anger, jealous and political rivalry are the not-so-altruistic passions propelling many Washington leakers. Their motives are too often self-serving and suspect.

But we hope the reading public will resist tarring all media with the same brush. The Sun Journal – and most community newspapers – may go a long time without using an unnamed source in a story.

Sure, we miss some scoops as a result. But we don’t miss making the whopping corrections made by Newsweek. We also avoid the sort of plagiarism that has plagued The New York Times, The Washington Post and some news magazines.

When something is said or reported in the Sun Journal, we always strive to make sure the source of that information is clear to readers.

The Washington media corps isn’t about to change its stripes. It seems like just yesterday that heads were rolling at CBS News over a similar error.

Instead, readers should look at any report emanating from an unnamed source as potential misinformation.