Student Newsletter Source Building Guide: How Student Journalists Develop Reliable Sources

Student journalists often find sources by reacting to assignments: a story is given, a source is needed, someone is contacted. Professional journalists work the other way: sources are cultivated over time, and stories emerge from those relationships. The second approach produces better journalism at every level.

Building a source map at the start of the year

At orientation, the editorial team should map the school's source landscape. Who are the administrators who make decisions? Who are the department heads who know what is happening in each academic area? Which teachers run significant programs? Who are the coaches with large student followings? Which staff members hear things the administration does not? Which students are deeply embedded in the school's extracurricular life?

Each beat should have a source map. A sports reporter who knows the athletic director, the coaches, and three or four athletes across different sports before any story is assigned covers the beat better than one who starts from scratch each story.

The introduction meeting

At the start of the year, student journalists should meet the key sources on their beats with no story in mind. A five-minute conversation that says "I'm covering the arts beat this year and wanted to introduce myself, what's happening in the music and theater programs this semester?" is not an interview. It is a relationship investment that pays dividends throughout the year.

Sources who meet a student reporter when there is no deadline pressure are more relaxed, more candid, and more likely to reach out when something worth covering happens in their area.

Student sources

Faculty and administrators are obvious sources. Student sources are often more credible for stories about the actual student experience of school life. Build a network of student sources across grades, programs, and social groups. Students who trust the publication and know how to reach a reporter bring tips that administrators never will.

Protect student sources who ask for confidentiality. A reputation for burning sources ends the source network. A reputation for protecting them builds it.

On the record, off the record, on background

Train student journalists to clarify sourcing status before accepting information. On the record means name and title can be used. On background means the information can be used but the source is not named. Off the record means the information cannot be used at all. These distinctions must be agreed upon before the source shares anything, not after. A source who shares something and then says "that was off the record" puts the journalist in an impossible position.

Sources across the community

Student publications that build source relationships outside the school building, with local officials, community organizations, and business owners who interact with the school, have access to story angles that no other student publication has. A city council member, a library director, or a local nonprofit leader who knows the student publication exists and what it covers is a potential source for stories that connect the school to the broader community.