ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses where news comes from and how journalists sift news from other information—or, to put it another way, how they sift newsworthy material from the rest. When it comes to the raw material from which news is made, it can be useful to make a distinction between the sources of news and the way it's collected or delivered. The sources of news include people and organisations that do or say things that are newsworthy. For example, the main newsmakers include: federal and state politicians, and local councils; entertainment figures; and scientific and medical researchers. Journalists develop networks of people who are sources of information and comment for news stories. The kinds of sources a journalist has will depend on the news round they cover and outlet for which they work. Estimates of the amount of news that originates from the public relations industry vary considerably, not least because of the difficulty of measuring that influence and isolating sources.
