Information as its source

INFORMATION: AT ITS SOURCE
BY: CHELDY SYGACO ELUMBA-PABLEO,MPA;LLB

News writing depends on information
The quality of the
writing is tied to the
quality of the
information.
 The quality of the
information depends on
its source.

Good journalism depends
almost entirely on good
reporting — having the latest,
most accurate, most credible
information. Writing is
important but secondary to
reporting. News writers must
understand information and
sources, however, in order to
present the information
properly to the audience.
Reporting is the basic activity of journalism.

Three types of sources
STORED – information that you
can look up, in a book, in a library,
on the Web. The good news
reporter knows sources of
information and can find them
quickly.
Now because of the web, store
information can be accessed
quickly and readily, and that
information is much more like to
be more recent.

observational –
information that you can
get from personal
experience, by going to a
city council meeting, a
fire, a press conference,
etc.

learning as much as they can
about the event beforehand
 getting into a position to see and
hear what is going on
 talking with people who are also
experiencing the event
taking good notes; using a tape
recorder; making notes to
themselves immediately after the
event
taking pictures
Reporters would like to cover more events than they are able
to. Being an eyewitness to something and being able to talk to
people who have experienced it is an experience that cannot
be duplicated. Reporters learn to prepare themselves to cover
an event by:

personal –
information that you get
from talking to people.
Most news reporters
have to interview people
to complete their news
stories.

Being able to talk to people — and
getting people to talk to them — IS
ONE OF THE MOST
IMPORTANT SKILLS OF
REPORTERS. Many people are
reluctant to talk with reporters
because they are afraid of being
misquoted or afraid of the
consequences of being in the news.
Others are anxious to talk with
reporters but they may not have
good information or they may be
pushing their own agenda or point
of view.

finding the right people to talk to (VERY
IMPORTANT), rather than using “sources
of convenience”
respecting their feelings and position
dealing with them ethically by identifying
themselves, understanding the principles
of on-the-record and off-the-record
conversations, and maintaining the
confidentiality of sources even when it is
difficult to do so (such as being faced with
going to jail)
learning how to interview people
properly
Reporters must learn to get the most from their
sources by:

One of the most important things a
journalism student can learn is
interviewing because most news and
information is gathered by talking to
people.
It is a standard practice of journalism
good interviewing takes skill acquired by
practice and experience
we place a high value on what people say
interviewing gives us the latest (most
recent) information from the people
likely to know the most in journalism,
interviewing isn’t just talking to people;
there are specific rules, guidelines and
expectations involved if an interview is
conducted properly.
INTERVIEWING

But it takes a
journalist to find out
information that
other people can’t
find or can’t be
bothered with
finding. That’s why
we interview.
Anyone can look something up (using stored sources). And
anyone can have an opinion about something.

Finding good sources of
information — and persuading
them to talk to you — is the job of
the journalist. When you are
writing about any topic or event,
you should try to find:
Experts with first-hand
knowledge of the topic
Eyewitnesses
People who general knowledge
about the topic
People with informed opinions
WHO SHOULD BE INTERVIEWED?

IN PERSON, if possible.
OVER THE PHONE, if
in-person is not possible.
BY EMAIL, but that
isn’t always a good
option.
How should the interview be conducted?

Whom should you interview?
THE RULES:
Be completely honest with your
interviewee. All information exchange in
journalism is based on honesty.
Indentify yourself to the interviewee
BEFORE the interview begins. Tell the
interviewee why you want to talk with him or
her and that what is said might be quoted in
a news story. Make sure the interviewee
understands all this.
Tell the interviewee what news
organization you are working for.
Ask the interview how to spell his or
her first and last name. Take down the
interviewee’s title. BY: CHELDY SYGACO ELUMBA-PABLEO,MPA;LLB

TAKE NOTES:
Listen carefully to what the person is
saying. Repeat back what you don’t
understand. Ask for clarification.
Ask the interviewee before
turning on a digital recorder. You
must have the person’s permission.
When you use a quotation, if you put
words within quotation marks, they
must be exactly the words the
interviewee said and in the order they
said them. BY: CHELDY SYGACO ELUMBA-PABLEO,MPA;LLB

VERIFICATION
Journalism is defined by
the process of verification. It
is the essence of the
journalistic method of
finding information and
assuring its accuracy.
comes from.

CONSISTENCY
 Journalists use the same
approach to finding
information for their stories.
Who are the people we want to
talk to about a story?

TRANSPARENCY
Journalists don’t use secret
methods, nor do they
disguise themselves and
what they do.
They operate in the open,
and they are open to
criticism about their
methods and actions.

Journalists try to gather
information from as many
sources as possible given
the nature of the event or
topic and time they have to
complete their work.
the information
MULTIPLE WITNESSES OR SOURCES

RECOGNIZING BIAS
Journalists first recognize
their own bias and make
consistent and honest efforts
to assure that their methods
are not change by their own
bias. Then they recognize the
bias that their sources have
toward the information they
are giving.
This recognition allows them
to weigh the information and
correct it with other
information. BY: CHELDY SYGACO ELUMBA-PABLEO,MPA;LLB

Many of the forms of writing, story
structure and information
presentation exist because they
assist in the process of verification.
FOR EXAMPLE:
In a news story, all major
information should be attributed to
some source. This custom puts a
burden on the writer, but it is
necessary to show readers where
THEY GET THEIR FACTS.
ADHERENCE TO PROFESSIONAL FORMS

staged events
spontaneous events
events that are a
mixture of the two.
ON-THE-SCENE REPORTING
Three kinds of events occur that reporters must cover:
We are in the midst
of calamity..
Everybody is warned
to keep safe

is one that is planned and about which
information can be gained before the event
occurs.
A staged event might be a concert, a
political speech, an awards ceremony or a
grand opening. These events are usually
managed by a person or organization and
have a purpose that benefits whoever is
producing the event. These are the easiest
for the journalist to plan, often because the
producers of the event want news coverage
and will be cooperative with the
journalists.
A. STAGED EVENT

make sure that there are
arrangements to accommodate
journalists by finding out what
access journalists will have to the
areas of the event, to whom the
journalists can talk to, the timing
and scheduling of the event and
so on.
IN COVERING STAGED EVENTS:
journalists should contact the producers
beforehand to get the who, what, when and
where of the event.

should check with the
producers to see if there are
any special rules in covering
the event and to see if those
rules are acceptable.
Sometimes producers will
want to limit coverage or will
try to make sure that events
are reported in a particular
way.

should not agree to attend and
cover staged events if the
conditions intrude on their
freedom to write and say what
they want about the event.
check on with a staged event is
to find what electronic and
wireless availability there is in
case journalists what to report
live from the scene via the web.

 Is when something unexpected and
significant occurs that involves more than a
few people: a fire, an explosion at a factory,
a major traffic jam caused by a wreck, a
tornado that destroys property, etc. While
many spontaneous events are bad news, that
is not always the case.
Still, a spontaneous event is more likely to involve
tragedy than not. Journalists must be ready to
cover such events with all of the professionalism
and objectivity they can display.
They must remember that they are witnesses and
should not get caught up in the moment and its
emotions.
B. SPONTANEOUS EVENT

journalists should try to get as
close to the event’s location as
possible
should always carry some
form of identification that shows
they are reporters working as
media professionals.
Police and emergency workers
are more cooperative in
allowing reporters access when
they are convinced the reporters
are professionals.
IN COVERING A SPONTANEOUS EVENT:

On September 11, 2001, CNN reporter David Mattingly was visiting family in
Pennsylvania when he hear the news of the terrorist attacks in New York and
Washington. He then realized he was about two hours away from where a plane
hijacked by terrorists had crashed. He drove there immediately but did not have
any identification that would show he was a reporter. He talked with the police
guarding the crash scene and convinced them to let him have access to the scene by
showing them his Georgia license tags (CNN headquarters is in Atlanta) and a
CNN baseball cap that he had in the back seat of his vehicle. (See James Glen
Stovall, Journalism: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How, Allyn and Bacon,
2005.)
try to find officials in charge of the scene so they can get the latest information.
try to find eyewitnesses to the event and interview them. Finally, they try to find
people who have been affected by the event and talk with them about the ways in
which the event has altered their lives.
should identify themselves and make sure that people understand they are talking
with a member of the news media and that they may be quoted if they continue the
conversation.
should take additional care for those who are grieving to make sure they do not take
advantage of their vulnerability.
if asked by those in grief to be left alone, they should honor that request.
SAMPLE SITUATION:

is one that has both elements
of spontaneity and planning.
An event might be planned,
but its outcome may be in
doubt. A sporting event such as
football game is a good
example.
Journalists know generally
what will happen at such
events, but they still need to be
there to witness the action and
record the outcome.
C. MIXED EVENT

One of the conventions
of news writing is that you
give the reader some idea
of what the source of the
information is.
“This is called attribution.”
ATTRIBUTION

most important information in a news story
should be attributed to some source;
information that is well known does not need
to be attributed; for instance, you would not
write, “The lake is on the north side of town,” the
sheriff said; sometimes the source of the
information is so obvious that it does not need
any direct attribution;
DIFFERENT MEDIA HAVE DIFFERENT
STYLES OF ATTRIBUTION
IN WRITING FOR PRINT: attribution is often
direct and obvious;
IN BROADCAST WRITING: attribution is
often implied rather than directly stated.
Three things you should know about attribution are:

Because news writing depends so much
on personal sources of information, you
will do a lot of quoting and paraphrasing. Both
terms refer to attributing information to a
personal source.
QUOTING (or sometimes we say a direct
quotation) means using the exact words
that the source used. A direct quote uses
quotation marks (“ ”) around the words of the
source and then gives the name of the source.
A PARAPHRASE is when you change the
words of a direct quotation or when you put
what the speaker has said in your own words.
This is sometimes called an indirect
quotation.
QUOTING AND PARAPHRASING

“My opponent is distorting my
record,” Bradley said.
PARAPHRASE
Bradley said the vice president was
distorting his record.
In writing a typical news story, you
should quote sparingly. There are
several reasons for this.
ONE IS THAT, as a trained news
writer, you can generally say things
more efficiently that your sources.
DIRECT QUOTATION:

ANOTHER REASON: is that as a
news writer, you are an
interpreter for your readers.
Lazy writers just dump a bunch of
direct quotations on the reader as
if to say, “Here, you figure it out.”
Still, you should use at least some
direct quotation in your news
stories when it is appropriate.
Quoting directly gives your stories
life and makes the sources seem
more real.

FINALLY: two things about using
direct quotation:
– Notice how the quotation
above is punctuated. Be sure to
use the proper punctuation for
your direct quotes.
– The proper sequence for the
elements in a direct quotation are
direct quote, speaker, verb. Again,
look at the example above

Simply because gathering information at its
source can help reporters gain credibility and
make their report current and relevant.
Why we need to gather information?

THANK YOU FOR READING!
CHELDHAYE

Information as its source

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