AKA Fake News?
Exactly.
I used to read these stories and think, oh, their source wants to stay anonymous to protect themselves and the subject of the leak. Understandable.
But since Trump was elected and has exposed the fake news media with a vengeance, I now know that the media uses these phrases as code words, like "anonymous sources", for "we made this shit up because otherwise we don't have a story".
They can no longer just lie about something and expect people to believe it. The veil has been lifted and they have been revealed.