INFORMATION COLLECTION TECHNIQUE

Work with sources of information

Ways to get information

Ethical standards in working with sources of information

As we have already found out, before starting to search and collect information, the journalist chooses a topic. The choice is always dependent, determined and explained by social needs, life's vicissitudes, events, conflicts that require the intervention of journalists to attract public attention to them. “Where can I get a temu?” - the editor of the newspaper Manasevich-Manuilov in the book “By the last line” by Valentin Pikul did not idly ask. The professional success of not only the individual journalist, but also the newspaper (channel) as a whole depends on the precise definition of a socially significant topic. Its subject forms and its audience.

What influences the choice of life material intended for reflection and publication?

Ø The concept of this media, public mission or ideas about it, available in the wording;

Ø specialization of publication, channel;

Ø audience needs;

Ø editorial work plan;

Ø personal observations, tastes, preferences of the journalist.

But mainly the decision is motivated by events, messages about which can cause changes in life, behavior, attitudes, knowledge, awareness, experience of a significant part of the audience, and therefore information about them falls on the news pages and on the air. So, the events that entail such changes create an informational occasion , that is, the need to make them public.

Consider the model of this stage of the editorial task. For the preparation of newspaper publication a group of students of the Faculty of Journalism Uralskogos. University chose the topic "Armor protection of citizens." At the same time, they proceeded from the following: a) according to the materials of the criminal chronicles, the number of burglaries in Yekaterinburg does not decrease; b) their detectability is very low; c) this circumstance makes the residents of the city not to rely on law enforcement agencies, but to take care of themselves, first of all - to install iron doors and bars on the windows. The students considered such an informational reason convincing, since crime disturbs a significant part of the city’s population.

After the topic is chosen, the journalist starts its development, which includes the identification of sources of information and how to obtain it. For the material on the subject “The Armor Protection of the Citizens”, the students by “brainstorming” considered it necessary to get to such sources of information: apartment owners who put and intend to install iron doors; organizations engaged in the manufacture and installation of iron doors; district law enforcement officers involved in the theft of burglary; publications on this and related topics in periodicals; shops that sell various security devices, including for apartments; “Experts” in the burglary, “burglar” (although it was recognized that finding the latter is very difficult).

Expected questions to clarify: the number of burglaries and their dynamics; Do iron doors save them? how many scarce metal sheets and corners are spent per year for housing the citizens; how much money citizens spend on their defense; supervision and advice of police officers investigating the theft from apartments where iron doors were installed. In fact, the number of questions for clarifying and collecting material turned out to be much larger.

Starting to work with sources, the journalist solves three main problems: the selection of the most reliable source of information, providing access to it and checking the information received.