ABSTRACT
For a good journalist, ideas for stories should be easy to find, especially if they are curious and have good contacts. Knowing how to develop story ideas through research and to pitch them to editors are vital skills for staffers and freelances alike. Journalists under increasing time pressure find they have to depend more and more on official or public relations sources. The UK is traditionally a secretive society but thanks to the Freedom of Information Act reporters do now have the right to ask public bodies for information and this can lead to the discovery of important stories.
