Sources of information

In the course of our journalism school, we go into detail about all possible sources of information. For now, let’s look at one of them – official information from government agencies.

Sometimes the most popular sources of “inspiration” for journalists are press releases (press releases) and information from the official websites of all kinds of government agencies – the prosecutor’s office, police, special services, city and regional administrations, ministries, and so on. As a rule, they have their own press-service or at least one press-secretary. Build a long-term relationship of trust with the press-services – write the truth, don’t twist the facts, criticism is possible, but in moderation.

You have to work with press releases and it is recommended to do so in any case, regardless of whether you work in an editorial office, collaborate with several media outlets or write remotely for all kinds of websites. In one case you will use the information you receive as a news lead for a journalistic story, in another case you will use it as a supplement to articles (statistics, quotes, background).

Ideally, you should not write material based only on a press release, because you get this information from an interested source, who presents events one-sidedly, from a position that is advantageous to himself. Very often it happens that a journalist is manipulated by a great distortion of the facts. Often he receives “sugary-sweet” releases about the impeccable work of government agencies and impressive achievements. Take an additional comment from an expert. It is desirable to present the positions of all parties, all those involved in the topic at hand.