ABSTRACT
One of the central requirements of great journalism is the ability to find and tell stories. A professional journalist is nothing without first-rate contacts and fresh ideas. Stories can come from academic journals, quirky online surveys or the release of important government data. This chapter concentrates on the basic and most common sources of news. It looks at building networks, developing a patch and the differences between primary and secondary sources. A public relations professional (PR) for a local company may also be a keen jet-skier or have raised a million pounds for charity. Information on the Internet can be found in such a huge variety of locations that each piece of information must be treated on its own merit and can be seen either as a primary or secondary source. In a professional environment, networking should be carefully structured.
