source of news

News Source

News source are the people, institution, field or organizations where journalists can get the information about issues, events or situations which are newsworthy. On any place and at any time, any person can be news source for a journalist, who has news sense. News may come from news agency, or investigation or the Internet. In the same way, news may come from cultural and political programs, festivals, press releases, press conferences, political leader's speech, mass demonstration, VIP visits, etc.

Reporters have three major sources of information:
 a) Direct observation , where reporters themselves observe/see the places, events, incidents, etc;
 b) Human sources, where reporters interview the people who have witnessed the event, authorities and experts who know the subject, and people who are involved in the event; and
 c) References, where reporters extract information from records, documents and clippings. These sources provide the material for the news story or feature. Sometimes news sources are categorized as "3Ps"- People, Place and Paper.

Direct observation depends on the experience and expertise of journalists. As they learn more and grow matured, direct observation will be stronger gradually. However, there is a problem to journalists that they themselves usually can't be the eye witness as the source of information. They need help of some other person or some authentic documents. so, direct observation is not enough to write  a good news story; hence, human sources and references are needed. Utilizing human as news source means interviewing. References as news sources includes news agency, press release, press conference, speeches, NGOs , etc.

In broad category, news source can be classified into three types, which are described as follows:

1)Predictable sources:-They are the pre-expected news sources. They give regular types of events related information. The places of festivals, seminars, meetings, exhibitions, parliamentary sessions, press release, etc are the predictable news sources. Places and dates are already determined in such events; so, reporters have to know where and when the program is going to be organized. For example, if next day is democracy day, reporters are fixed one day earlier who to go, where or when.

2)Anticipatory sources:- They are the expected news sources. Reporters themselves go to collected information about something to investigate or follow up or to prove the events according to related subjects. The source is that place and person where the reporters expect information. However the sources might be the probable place of news. Hence there is no guarantee of obtaining news which are newsworthy.

3)Unpredictable sources:- They are the unexpected news sources. All events are not pre-determined like flood, soil erosion, earthquake, fire, bomb-blast, kidnapping, accidents, etc happen unexpectedly. Reporters have to collect news reports immediately about these events. If a person gives information about bribery as corruption, that person will be an unexpected source. Therefore, outguessed, unpredictable and incidentally happened events are unpredictable sources.

The various sources of news are mentioned as follows:-

• News agency: News agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to media organizations in the news trade, such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television on certain cost. News agencies have clients on a local, regional, national or international scale. Some news agencies are state-owned or government backed( like RSS in Nepal) particularly in authoritarian countries like China, Cuba, etc. News agencies generally prepare hard news stories and feature articles that can be used by other news organizations with little or no modification, and then sell them to other news organizations. Some of the popular news agencies around the world are:- Agence France Presse (AFP), Reuters, Associated Press (AP), United Press International (UPI), Press Trust of India (PTI), etc.
• Interview:- Interview is one of the basic active ingredients of news and features involving the asking of questions and recording of answers either in writing or on tape depending on the medium. It has been the mainstay of reporting since journalism had started. The interviewee can be anyone of related subject. In many cases it is conducted by appointment. Interview may be indoor or outdoor, live or recorded, oral or written, face-to-face or telephone, structured or unstructured. It is the most used technique to get information from the source.
• Government ministries and departments:- The three major organs of the state- executive, legislative and judiciary are the major newsmakers every day. Presidents, Prime ministers, members of Parliament, Heads of the constitutional body are very important source for various policy and decision making processes. Their speeches, orders, policies, visits, etc make widely known and newsworthy event to general public. Government ministries and departments make everyday news and hence it is a great news source.
• Press conference:- Press conference is an official meeting or a program where the source talks to a group of journalists in order to answer their questions or to make an official statement. Various organizations, even individuals organize press conferences or news briefing to invited journalists in order to acquire the maximum positive publicity. Here, journalists have to ask and organizers have to answer. Reporters often want to meet press conferences for three major reasons: a) it's an easy way to obtain news, b) reporters renew or extend public relation, and c) without much labor, reporters get snacks and sometimes allowances too.
• Press release:- Press release is an official written document made to journalists by a large organization, a political party, government departments or an individual. It is generally printed an official letter head or individually with stamp or signature. Since it is a written document from the source, the information is reliable and trustworthy. However, whatever written in the press release can't be newsworthy.
• Internet:- The internet challenges traditional news sources in several ways. It is a big store house of current information. If we know a particular website, we can directly log on and find the related news. It is a very good news source for regional and international news. Internet is very popular among the modern reporters who have a zeal to search information.
• Research/Survey:- Research can help to find many information. The information obtained from research and surveys are always factual. The survey results in different fields, and journalists often get news from such research/ surveys.
• Speeches:- Speeches are very important news sources today; however the tragedy is' who spoke' is important rather than ' what is spoken'. Celebrities and major political leaders have been given high priority even for their simple nonsense remarks. Out of the total speech of a speaker, usually, less than 2% gets chance to be selected as news. Parliamentary speeches, press conference speeches, speeches from political leaders heads and international leaders are important news source.
• NGOs and INGOs:- Every country has private and non-governmental organizations. There are international inter-governmental bodies as well like- UN, SAARC, World Bank, etc. In democratic countries, non-governmental organizations are very strong, even stronger than the governmental mechanism sometime. International organizations are popular for their impartiality and trustworthiness. So, the news from INGOs and NGOs is regarded more impartial and trustful.