You can interview any number of people for a news story. But how many of them know what they’re talking about and won’t steer you wrong with bad information?
A news reporter conducts an interview. Photo credit: Viktor Gladkov
In News Decoder’s Top Tips, we share advice for young people from experts in journalism, media literacy and education. In this week’s Top Tip, investigative reporter Matt Drange tells us why we can’t interview just anyone for a story if we want good information.
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As a reporter you’re only as good as your sources. That’s why it is important, when doing a news story, to choose sources who are knowledgeable. That’s the advice from investigative journalist Matt Drange.
As a reporter, Drange doesn’t report his own thoughts and feelings. Instead, he reports the news based on what he can verify from multiple sources.
Drange has written stories for ProPublica, Forbes Magazine, the Center for Investigative Reporting, the Guardian and Business Insider.
He said that when researching a story and looking for interviews, you should evaluate whether potential sources are reliable. This is critical in this age where so much disinformation is distributed. Just because someone says something and just because someone has a fancy title doesn’t mean they will give you good information.
“These days the internet makes finding and accessing information easy,” Drange said. “But just because someone says something, doesn’t make it true or worthwhile for you to report in a journalistic article.”
Assess the reliability of your sources
Generally you need to interview sources of information firsthand to understand the context for what they are saying, he said.
Assess not only their credentials but also their interests. “Why are they telling you a piece of information?” he said.
To ensure that a source is sound, do some research and why they are willing to speak to you. Find out where the person most recently worked and what interests or angers them. “Are they upset at a policy or action by an institution?” he said. “What’s their agenda?”
Documents and data, from academic studies or government reports or documents, can also give your story authority.
This article was adapted from a video interview with Matt Drange produced as part of News Decoder’s partner project Mobile Stories. Mobile Stories is a publishing tool for young people. It provides guidance on how to create trustworthy news content while upholding journalist ethics.
Watch Matt Drange’s full video here:
So how many sources do you need for a story? The more, the better, Drange said. He suggests that every story should have at least three sources in it but the more you interview and the more you read, the better. “You can’t have too many behind the scenes,” he said. “The more people you speak with, the better informed you’ll be to describe how the people you are writing about perceive an issue.”
The number of people or documents you seek isn’t as important as the number of perspectives those interviews and documents represent.
“To be a reliable reporter people can trust, you must ask for comment from all sides of a given story, to present a full and balanced depiction of what’s really happened and where a story might be heading,” Drange said.
It is essential that when accusing someone of something or reporting something that makes someone look bad to reach out to that person for a comment.
“Imagine if you were the subject of a story and try to think: how would I like to be treated?” he said.
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