The time factor
Sources are of huge importance to journalists. They don’t just have to be informative, but also trustworthy. Unfortunately, checking whether a source is trustworthy is a time-consuming process. This is not easily compatible with the tight deadlines journalists have to work with: newsrooms and editors often have to act quickly to avoid being ousted by other news media or losing advertisement money due to a missed scoop.
This is why it is often easier for journalists to return to their trusty contact list. This will have sources in it who have delivered trustworthy information in the past and who can be reached quickly.
Power and authority
Some people and organisations have a powerful position in society. They make important decisions or carry a lot of authority, which means journalists are keen to approach them to provide context. This can be the case for ministers (political power), but also large companies (economic power) or experts with specialised knowledge (social power).
The X-factor
Newspapers, tv news editors and online news providers also have to think about their readers and viewers. The news they bring should be factual, but also attractive. That’s why mediagenic sources are popular among journalists. Those who are well-spoken and give off a confident impression will make the news more easily. This goes for both well-known and unknown sources: when passers-by on the street are asked for their opinion, the same criteria are applied to them, which means that these opinions are usually not completely randomly chosen.
Is the news a one man show?
The news should not be a one man show: highlighting various points of view is an important guideline in the journalistic code. But those who aren’t automatically contacted as a source, will need different strategies to appear in the news:
