Text В How news is gathered

The methods by which news, features stories, pictures and oth­er editorial materials are gathered may be the following: •Reporters. These are journalists who are directed by the ed­itor to seek information on a topic. Some may specialise in, for example, crime, politics or sports, others will be general reporters.

• Special correspondents. These are writers who specialise in sub­jects such as industry, science, education and so on. There are also war correspondents and foreign correspondents. These journalists may contribute a regular column or may edit week­ly or monthly magazines on their subject.

• Stringers. Newspapers cannot afford to have their own report­ers in every town, and so they have contacts with local journal­ists to cover stories for them. These stringers often send local stories to the national press.

• Foreign correspondents. Large newspapers usually have foreign correspondents in the main cities of the world. They may work full-time for the paper or work like stringers.

• Feature writers. Usually staff writers, these are journalists who write articles rather than news reports, giving in-depth background to the news or specialising in topics such as politics or fashion.

• Wire services. A wire service is a central news service which receives, edits and transmits news to news rooms. This service is now computerized.

• News agencies. These are also firms which specialise in certain topics and sell news to the media. In addition there are foreign news agencies which gather and distribute news for or about their countries, e.g. the American Associated Press (AP).

• Picture agencies and picture libraries. Important news events are photographed by picture agency photographers who send pictures to editors. Picture agencies, and photographic libraries have pictures on subjects and can sell selections of photos.

• PR sources. Editors rely on PR specialists for news, interviews and ideas for articles or written articles. Journalists will ac­cept invitations to attend press events. They will also contact PR specialists when they want information.

Adapted from F. Jefkins