Information, at its source

Newswriting depends on information. The quality of the writing is tied to the quality of the information. The quality of the information depends on its source.

Three types of sources

1. Stored: Information that you can look up, in a book, in a library, on the Web. The good reporter knows sources of information and can find them quickly.
2. Observational: Information that you can get from personal experience, by going to a city council meeting, a fire, a press conference or other event.
3. Personal: Information that you get from talking to people.

News reporters want the best information available. They will try to gather it from the people who know the most or who are closest to a situation. These are people likely to have the best information, and they are likely to be the most credible sources.

Attribution

One of the conventions of news writing is that you give the reader some idea of what the source of the information is. This is called attribution. Three things you should know about attribution:

• Most important information in a news story should be attributed to some source.
  • This can be a direct quote: “The money was recovered,” Jones said.
  • This can be a paraphrase: Jones said the department recovered the money.
• Information that is well-known or beyond dispute does not need to be attributed.
  • Do not write : “The lake is on the north side of town,” the sheriff said.
  • Make it: The lake is on the north side of town.
• Sometimes the source of the information is so obvious that it does not need any direct attribution:
  • Unnecessary attribution: Temperatures were in the 70s, according to the National Weather Service.
  • Make it: Temperatures were in the 70s.
• When a person is speaking, “said” is the preferred attribution. Save “according to” for information attributed to reports or other documents.
  • Do not write: The assailant escaped through a hole in the fence, according to Sgt. John Dahlberg of the St. Paul Police.
  • Make it: The assailant escaped through a hole in the fence, said Sgt. John Dahlberg of the St. Paul Police.
  • BUT make it: Of all tax returns filed in 2005, 20 percent were audited, according to an Internal Revenue Service report.

Quoting and paraphrasing

• A direct quotation means using the exact words that the source used, or as close to that as we can get.
  • Example: “My opponent is distorting my record,” Bradley said.
• A direct quote uses quotation marks (“ ”) around the words of the source, and then gives the name of the source.
  • Notice how the quotation above is punctuated. Commas and periods always go inside the quote marks. Be sure to use the proper punctuation for your direct quotes.
  • The proper sequence for the elements in a direct quotation are direct quote, speaker, verb.
• A paraphrase is when you change the words of a direct quotation or when you put what the speaker has said in your own words.
• Example: Bradley said the vice president was distorting his record.
• A paraphrase is sometimes called an indirect quotation.