Chapter 5

 Ethical Dilemma  Should you show your story to a source before publication? ▪ Why/Why Not? ▪ Entire story? ▪ Part of the story? ▪ None of the story?

 Now Back to Chapter 5  A source book  Journal of information on contacts  Used to reconnect with sources ▪ Past/Present/Future  What type of information ▪ Would you put in a source book?

 Name of source  Phone numbers ▪ Work/Cell (home if possible)  address  Physical address  Notations ▪ Additional information about the source

 For your next article (Q&A)  You need to include at least (2) two ▪ Ways to contact your source ▪ (in case you need to do follow up)

 Good reporters count on ▪ People to interview ▪ Written sources ▪ Scenario ▪ You are assigned to cover a crime story ▪ The person arrested was a person of interest in a past crime ▪ Do you include the previous info in your story? ▪ What if….

 Human Sources  Make stories more ▪ Credible/readable ▪ Eyewitnesses/Participants ▪ Give immediacy ▪ Provide interesting quotes/soundbites

 Finding human sources ▪ News releases ▪ Usually list a contact person ▪ Up and down the ladder ▪ Seek out people in charge & people involved ▪ Names in the news ▪ If there is a quote in an existing article ▪ Don’t just quote the article, try to contact the source ▪ Admin Assistants

▪ Community & campus leaders ▪ Groups, departments, programs, etc, ▪ These are good places to start ▪ Self-Sponsorship ▪ Referencing a previous article you did about the source ▪ Matchmaking ▪ Asking a source for additional contacts ▪ Fairness ▪ Seeking out both sides of an issue/controversy  To get the other point of view

▪ Primary Sources ▪ When information is received directly from the party involved in the news event ▪ Secondary Sources ▪ When information provided by a third party not directly involved in the news event ▪ Blogs ▪ Usually opinion columns and personal reflections ▪ Can be good for contacting human sources  regarding issues/stories, etc.

 Beat Reporting ▪ Involves continuous coverage of the same area or dept. ▪ City Hall/Council ▪ School districts ▪ Colleges ▪ Sports, Sports teams  Other defined beats ▪ Beat reporters have more sources than ever before ▪ Websites & social media ▪ Blogs, data sources, research ▪ Community members, workers, etc

 Anonymous sources  The more you rely on unnamed sources ▪ The less credibility your story has ▪ Review AP policy on anonymous sources (pg 81) ▪ Most editors will say no ▪ Unless there is no other way to get the info ▪ Even then many would still say no ▪ When would you say an anonymous source is ok ▪ How would you refer to them?

 Terms often used to establish rules for interviews  Promises  On the record  Off the record  Not for attribution  Background  Deep background

 Multicultural sources  Ethnic demographics are changing in the U.S.  The media tends to be stereotypical  News stories should ▪ Reflect the diversity in society ▪ Use racial/ethnic labels only when relevant to story  How do you create a realistic diversity ▪ In your news stories?

 Telephone directories  Help to locate sources ▪ Business, Govt. ▪ people  Reverse directories ▪ Help to find people ▪ Phone #, Address, etc  Libraries  Wealth of information ▪ Newspapers, federal/state docs, reports, journals, etc

 How do you know what’s credible online?  Government sources ▪ Info is official and public  University studies ▪ Peer reviewed (should be linked to university site of research journals)  Personal sites ▪ Least trustworthy ▪ Good for ideas or contacts ▪ Beware of citing them without verifying info

▪ Journalism directories ▪ Websites by journalists with links to valuable media resources ▪ Find experts ▪ Seek experts to provide added credibility to your publication ▪ Find a map ▪ Help you to get to a location in order to cover your assignment ▪ Find press releases & Wire services ▪ Sites for story leads for college and professional publications ▪ prnewswire.com, preweb.com, businesswire.com, and more

 Effective searching  Understand domains  Find site contacts  Check state sites  Find press releases/Wire services  Social networking sites  Databases ▪ And more (Pg 98-99)

 Public records  A lot of information is available via public records ▪ Political contributions ▪ Real estate records ▪ Voter registration ▪ Salaries ▪ Police records, school, etc ▪ More on pg ▪ Zaba SearchIntelius Zaba SearchIntelius

 Freedom of information act  Established by congress in 1966 ▪ Made federal records available ▪ To the public ▪ Often time consuming in getting records ▪ Have proven invaluable to reporters