Good sources make good stories

Good sources make good stories.

Spot news, beat reporting, and features are only as good as the sources a writer has to back them up.

Sources tell the story, provide the facts, verify the facts, give detail to enrich the telling, provide context, explain complex subject matter and ensure people are who they say they are.

As a rule, any well-written story should have at least two sources, three makes it even better. However, more important than knowing how many sources to have in a story is recognizing as a reporter that every story needs solid sources.

This is where a few good tenets of journalism can be helpful to remember: Get the facts (and verify them), report both sides of the story, and do no harm. Good sources will help a reporter accomplish all of these, and will help the writer tell a better, more well-informed story.

We’ve all been burned on stories where the information we were given was wrong, or, even worse, the story wasn’t true. Phony illnesses, fraudulent fund-raisers, publicity seekers, family squabbles, most editors at a small daily or weekly have seen it all come through their doors.

Illnesses – Editors can’t avoid stories about dying children and strange ailments, but we can make sure the information is accurate. Verify the person is sick by calling their doctor and asking them to give general information about the disease’s symptoms and treatments. A doctor can’t give out specific patient information, but you’ll find out if the person is being treated.

Spot news/cops – On the scene of a drug bust or checking the jail docket, verify the information. Names, charges, street names, and other pertinent information should be verified with a source that can provide the details to the story, not just vague facts that may be incorrect. The jail docket may say check fraud, but the actual charge may be uttering forgery. Get it right.

City boards, county supervisors, school boards, etc. – Be wary of budget figures, cost estimates and other financial information tossed out during meetings by officials or the public. People - including some officials I have found - have a tendency to round figures during discussions. The mayor may say the cost for a new police car is $35,000 during a meeting, when the actual cost is $35,367. Look at cost reports and budgets for yourself, and ask the person who prepared them to answer questions. You’ll need the quote from the mayor about why taxes are going up, but the person who prepared the budget can answer specific line item questions.

Letters to the Editor – We’ve all been burned on this one. Take the time to call the letter writer, ask them questions, look them up in the phone book, verify their street address.

Fund-raisers – For every do-gooder holding a fund-raiser for a family who lost their home in a fire, there’s a scam artist looking for any angle to bilk people out of their money. We require anyone soliciting funds for medical expenses, fires, and other fund-raisers to establish a bank account in the name of the person in need, and we then verify it with a bank employee.

Births and obituaries – Sadly, family squabbles and grudges can spill over into the pages of the newspaper with false paternity claims in a birth announcement or in phony death notices. For birth announcements, we require the announcements come from the parents of the child, and that the father sign the announcement in person and show a photo ID if the parents are unmarried. Similarly, we get obituaries directly from funeral homes in order to verify the death of the person, and also to ensure the notice appears according to the wishes of the family and avoid squabbling.