Journalists Respond

A poll was recently conducted on the Naumann Blanchard blog that asked respected pr practitioners, “How many sources should media get to confirm a "fact" in a hard news story before it runs?” With one, two, three, and four were the response options. The tally most popular response by 40 percent was “One” with the rest evenly divided among the other responses.

Here is what some journalists are saying about the number of news stories.

• Christine Hall, Houston Business Journal: "Houston Business Journal reporters are told to have at least three sources in a story. Most stories need at least an impartial person, or an expert to talk about why the concept is the next big thing, or something that is important. It even makes the story more balanced to find someone with an opposing view."
• John A. Sullivan, Energy Intelligence: "I think it depends on the article. In some instances, you have a very limited number of subject matter experts so there may only be one good source to use. Usually, if it is a fact that is known by several, I try to get at least two sources."