Making Use of Your Contacts

Gossip and rumour are no substitute for fact, so it doesn’t do to believe everything you are told. Scepticism is healthy as long as it does not become obsessive and blind you to accepting the evidence of your own eyes and ears.

The double-check

Contacts who seek you out may be genuinely anxious to help or may have their own axes to grind. It happens. If in doubt cross-check with other sources. Keep faith with your informants and respect their confidentiality if that is what they wish. Some reporters have gone to prison rather than reveal their sources of information. But be careful. Do not make promises you cannot keep. In some circumstances the act of receiving information can in itself be regarded as being in contravention of the law.

Briefings and lobbies

Reporters who deal with specialist subjects usually operate in groups which enjoy some privileges denied to generalists. Advance copies of official reports, speeches and other documents are made available to assist full and accurate reporting. Security passes and identity cards are issued to reporters with official accreditation.

Members of the White House Press Corps, for example, are given facilities to report Presidential activities. Aides give regular briefings–i.e. government or Presidential views on the state of the world or other issues of the day. Where the President goes, so does the President Press Corps. The lobby system in Britain enables political journalists to meet senior politicians and officials on a regular ‘non-attributable’ basis (see panel opposite), bringing with it the opportunity to discover current government thinking.

Uses and abuses

Although they have their uses, these systems are open to abuse. ‘Lobbies’ allow government officials or ministers to use the press to float ideas or theories which may not be official policy, and controversy over what has or has not been said at such meetings (which are never supposed to take place) has begun to lead to the discrediting of the whole idea.

Yet those who are barred from entry or refuse to take part sometimes find themselves at a disadvantage. Some stories are impossible to cover properly without ‘official’ help. Miss the plane to the President’s next destination and you miss the story. You cannot buy a ticket to a remote war zone, so you have to enlist the help of the military to get you there and provide access to communications.

The trouble is that you will be taken subject to conditions imposed by your hosts–and in some cases that might be thought too high a price to pay.

The passport to news coverage

Only bona fide journalists are admitted to most events likely to be worth covering. Without prior accreditation, proper identification or official press pass you simply will not be allowed access. Make sure you secure the right credentials, in good time.