How independent are journalists from sources?
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Journalists and sources depend on each other to reach their goal: journalists need sources to be able to transmit the news, while sources need journalists to disseminate their message.
“Although it takes two to tango, either sources or journalists can lead, but more often than not, sources do the leading.”
The reality shows that sources often have the upper hand over journalists, allowing them to colour the news. One of the main reasons for this is that journalists need to produce a lot of news items in a short amount of time.
Sources that are ready to deliver bite-sized news make the lives of journalists a lot easier. That’s why many companies and organisations invest in a professional communications department that sends press releases to news departments. A press release is like a ready-made news item that looks like a real news article.
The power of press releases
“Press releases are like a form of information subsidies. News sources offer prepackaged information to journalists as a sort of subsidy, allowing them to work much more quickly.”
Press releases often use an eye-catching title, a lead summary, a few clear subheaders and a quote from the source. With a bit of copy-pasting, journalists can adopt the message almost word for word. Sometimes that’s exactly what happens, which means that the author of the press release can have a lot of influence over the imagery in the news.
Are press releases reliable?
Press releases certainly aren’t unreliable by definition, but they are subjective. The aim of a press release is always in the first place to positively promote the company or organisation behind it. That’s why it’s good to be aware of the fact that many news items are based on press releases, often without explicitly saying so.
For example, when a news item talks about research, news consumers might assume that this means a scientific study. In reality, commercial companies like to commission research to report about, because they know it helps their press releases make it into the news. Sometimes a press release will only mention the results that are beneficial to the company, or the company might draw conclusions that aren’t entirely correct.
Tip!
When you suspect that a news item is based on a press release, for example because it seems to be suspiciously positive about a company or an organisation, you can check how other media outlets report the item. Or you can check the website of the company in question: you’ll often be able to find an overview of their latest press releases.
