ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the relationship between journalists and their sources. It looks at some basic challenges of dealing with people, including finding good contributors, reacting to tip-offs and the problem of dealing with 'off the record' information. The chapter discusses some of the more challenging and complex issues raised by modern journalistic practice. Before a source approaches a journalist, they may already have accessed confidential information or used digital communications in an insecure way. Many contributors are now approached online via social media or email. Claire Edwards is a journalist for a successful trade publication. She says it's important to try to have a conversation, rather than speak 'at' our contact. The Internet has made it relatively straightforward to find out a little about the person we are contacting. Many online and broadcast news organisations will use their output to call for contributions or user generated content (UGC).
