Whom Should I Interview?

Once reporters know the purpose of the interviews, they must decide whom they should inter-view. Sometimes the answer is obvious. If reporters are preparing a personality profile of a prominent person, the subject of that profile and his or her friends, enemies and co-workers should be interviewed. For other stories, reporters must devote time and thought to the question of who has the information they need.

The basic principle reporters should follow is to seek the best available source. Such a source possesses knowledge, expertise or insight relevant to the story. Sources also should be articulate; they should be able to explain complicated matters clearly and in a manner that readers, listeners or viewers will find interesting. They also should be accessible. If the best source is ill or backpacking in the Himalayas, reporters must be able to find an alternative. Reporters should remember that sometimes the best available source is not a person but a document or record. Re-porters can save themselves and the people they interview time and trouble if they begin by searching for documents or public records that provide the factual back- ground for a story.

Finding sources who can provide insights and information can challenge a reporter’s skill. A number of resources can help reporters locate the people they need to talk to.

Many of the most frequently used sources work in local governments: cities, counties and school districts. Some of these sources can be found through the telephone book. In some com-munities, local chapters of the League of Women Voters publish directories of local officials. And many local governments now operate Web sites that can lead reporters to sources.

State governments annually publish directories of their agencies. Those directories describe each agency’s responsibilities and identify its top personnel. The directories are available in most community libraries. States also put much of the same information on the World Wide Web.

The federal government publishes the U.S. Government Manual every year. Most libraries have a copy. Like the state directories, the U.S. Government Manual identifies all federal agencies, their responsibilities and their top personnel.

Some excellent news sources work not for government but for private organizations. The Encyclopedia of Associations, a reference work found in most college and university.1ibraries, lists thousands of organizations and interest groups. Each organization is described in a paragraph accompanied by its address and phone number and the name of its top official. Many of these organizations have helpful information and are eager to share it with reporters.

Local colleges and universities can provide helpful sources for many stories. The faculty members can provide background, explain complex issues and offer insights. College and university public relations offices usually help reporters identify and contact the faculty members who can provide the most useful information.

How Many Sources are enough?

Beginning reporters sometimes wonder how many sources they need for a story. The answer depends on at least four factors: deadline pressure, the expertise of the sources, the degree of controversy raised by a topic and the complexity of a topic.

When stories involve breaking news, which must be published or broadcast as soon as possible, reporters cannot afford the luxury of searching widely for sources and information. They must construct a story from the materials readily available. Still, reporters should get as complete an account of the event as possible and include as many points of view as possible. If a re-porter cannot interview some key sources before the deadline, the story should say so clearly.

If reporters’ sources possess broad expertise in a topic, three or four might be enough. If they have more limited experience, reporters might need to speak to dozens. A reporter writing a story about the economic health of a city, for instance, might be able to produce a complete and accurate picture after talking to just a few people with broad expertise, such as academic and government economists, chamber of commerce officials, bank executives or union leaders. The reporter would have to interview dozens, if not hundreds, of individual business owners for the same story. The individual business owners may know the conditions for their own businesses, but they probably don’t know the economic health of the community as a whole.

The degree of controversy also affects the number of sources reporters should speak to. If a topic is not controversial-the causes of polio, for example-then one source may be sufficient. But if the topic is global warming-about which experts disagree vigorously then a reporter must be sure the story includes all reasonable points of view.

As a story becomes more complex, the number of sources needed will grow. A story about a particular crime committed by a particular teen-ager probably would be fairly straightforward. Reporters could get a complete picture from only a few sources. A story about the causes of teen-age crime in general is much more complicated and would require talking to dozens of sources representing many points of view.

No matter how many sources reporters talk to, they must evaluate those sources. Journalists should do more than simply pass along quotations from other people, even those considered experts. The obligation to evaluate information increases as the complexity of the story increases. Evaluating sources requires reporters to ask two questions: What is the basis of the source’s knowledge? How credible or reliable is the source? The first question calls on reporters to find out and weigh the manner in which the source obtained the information. Water-cooler gossip is not as valuable as information from an eyewitness. The credibility and reliability of the source require asking about the source’s credentials and cross-checking information from one source with that from others. The process is not simple or easy, but it is essential if reporters are going to produce sound, accurate news stories.