ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the traditional news sources, including the roles of reporters and their contacts, calls and voice-banks, press releases, pressure groups, staged events, agencies and freelances, wire services, and monitoring other media. It explains how these sources fit into the news-gathering operation. The chapter looks at role of social media, how to research stories using online and mobile sources; find people who can provide content, including interviews, pictures and packages. It describes production process in a newsroom and the importance of teamwork. The chapter discusses the information gathered from different news sources finds its way into the newsroom diary – the most important tool for running a day-to-day news operation. Most reporters recognise that the best way of finding new and exclusive stories is through personal contacts, people who've become reliable sources of news and information. The most important tool for collating information from all the different news sources, and planning coverage of news, is the newsroom diary.
