When the "critics" cited by a reporter are the reporter

Never has it been easier to find or quote opinions of all kinds. Blogposts, press releases, comments, tweets are all a Google search away. What reportorial goal, then, is furthered by claiming that “critics say” something without giving the names of any critics or quoting their words? I cannot think of one.

There are, however, polemical goals that the stray use of “critics say” can further: those of putting words in one’s opponents’ mouths, of inventing convenient opponents where no real ones exist. Or, on the other hand, of inserting one’s own views into a story. That such editorializing has nothing to do with straight reporting does not make it beyond certain reporters. Or so critics say.