Reporters and sources

Long-term relationships
can be cozy for reporters

Reporters are nothing without their sources. Sources provide the information reporters need to write stories.

So while reporters must handle those sources with care, their primary responsibility is to the public and to fulfill that responsibility, reporters must sometimes write things that sources don’t like.

The problem is particularly acute for beat reporters – reporters that limit their work to one topic such as city government, the courts, banking or sports. If a reporter angers a source, she may not be able to go to that person again to get information on a different story. Burn the wrong source and a reporter may find himself reassigned.

The best example we’ve found comes from Cleveland. Over 28 months, the FBI arrested top county officials on charges of corruption that went back many years. Many in the community asked “Where was the Plain Dealer?” during that time. If the newspaper had been doing its job, how could public officials have gotten away with their crimes unnoticed?

After the arrests were made, Plain Dealer editors asked themselves the same questions and assigned the newspaper’s reader representative, Ted Diadiun, to look into what happened.

Diadium wrote back to readers in a Nov. 28, 2010 report. Part of that report was a candid look at the relationship between beat reporters and their sources.

... despite their historic image as cynical curmudgeons, too many reporters are unwilling to bite the hands of the sources that feed them. Another is that reporters, ever on the lookout for the man-bites-dog story, can grow numb to business as usual.

"I knew Gerry McFaul back in the old days," said Dick Feagler, a longtime columnist at both the Cleveland Press and The Plain Dealer. "I knew he was probably playing fast and loose . . . but I think my mind was that that's the way the system was. I don't remember anyone fainting with shock when they found out that the sheriff was taking kickbacks."

We recommend that you read Diadiun’s report as it’s a good lesson in how the press works. In the end, he concludes that the paper didn’t fail as much as it missed an opportunity. We would disagree.

The problems Diadiun points out are well-known pitfalls. Editors should move reporters off beats periodically to allow fresh eyes to survey the scene. Reporters and editors should also step back on occasion and ask themselves if there is a larger story they are missing.

And they should be in better communication with readers and viewers who view a situation from outside the paradigm of daily news reporting and offer a fresh perspective.

The relationship between reporters and sources is a necessary evil, but even the watchdogs need watchdogs.

When news organizations fail to do their jobs, it’s up to us as news consumers to demand that they improve.