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I’ve heard these questions from several scholars before, and perhaps it’s helpful to explain how it works (at least for me, one early career reporter. Other journalists have different habits.) Little thread: https://twitter.com/sgbuggs/status/1297967563150954496
To the first point: I frequently have phone calls that don’t lead to stories. Sometimes I do “source calls” to bone up on a subject I need to learn more about. For those calls, the person knows I’m not working on an immediate story and that I just want to chat. Other times....
I just call someone because I saw something interesting on the internet and want to learn more. Regardless, relatively often, a story I’m pursuing just doesn’t work out for sooo many reasons: not enough people can talk, other news breaks, or it just *isn't* a story, in the end.
This is another point I like making: reporters are really figuring out what the story is through the act of reporting. We might have an idea of what the story is going to be, but really, ours is a job of discovery. Sometimes you discover that there's no "there" there.
(I should add that at any given time, I and most reporters I know are juggling a massive roster of ideas, pitches, and leads and you feel guilty for being unable to cover everything and there are far too few journalists for our democratic needs. Okay, back to the thread.)
I imagine it’s frustrating when you take time to talk to a reporter, and the story dies. I try to be up front with sources when I don’t know if something is going to come to fruition, but inevitably, sometimes stories just get killed.
When that happens, I try to explain why when people follow up to ask. But please do follow up if you’re curious. Sometimes it’s out of our control. (Aka an editor, not the reporter, killed it.)
As for the 2nd Q, I talk to lots of people for stories who don’t end up getting quoted. It’s because I, and lots of reporters, want to be as thorough as possible, which means we reach out to probably too many people and end up hearing similar things, or just can't include it all.
Convos with ppl who aren’t quoted are often IMPERATIVE to my understanding of what’s going on. But I can imagine how that, too, is frustrating, especially if you want to get your message across and are taking time out your life to talk on the phone or (even worse) on Zoom.
There's no simple answer. But hopefully this demystifies the process so you can be more informed about how to spend your time.
And when you talk to a reporter, definitely ask questions about their methods, their timeframe, etc. I personally love to talk about this stuff. Fin.
And when you talk to a reporter, definitely ask questions about their methods, their timeframe, etc. I personally love to talk about this stuff. Fin.
