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- Build trust with sources
- Reflect the diversity of your community
- Consider your relationship with law enforcement
- Respect the privacy of vulnerable people
- Back to Best Practices home
[ Build trust with sources ]
Building a source base
To have a good source base, you’ll need to immerse yourself in the community. If you’re beginning a new beat, start by contacting other journalists who have been covering the same area. Ask for their advice, talk about how they got started and who you should be getting in contact with first.
Connect with community members. Having a cup of coffee or a chat with community members before you begin reporting can be a simple way to get the lay of the land.
Contact local officials and prominent members of the community. Try reaching out to organizers at the local churches and community centers. Attend city council meetings and introduce yourself. Cast a wide net when finding people to interview – talk to lawmakers, advocates, people who have been incarcerated, public defenders, and prosecutors to get the full picture.
Spend time in the community you represent. Visit local businesses, take the time to explore and get a good idea of the neighborhoods you will be covering. Find out their concerns and get names of community leaders.
Not only will your reporting benefit from the better understanding of your community, but your sources will recognize you, which leads to trust.
Be honest and upfront with people about what your story is and why you’re reporting it. If a source could face backlash or legal trouble for talking to you, take steps to protect them.
Getting in contact with sources
Covering the victim of a crime should be just as, if not more, important than covering the suspected perpetrator. Focusing on the suspected perpetrator can give the story a sensationalist edge, whereas focusing on the victim dignifies them and humanizes the story.
If the relevant court cases have been published, you may be able to find victim names via PACER or visiting your local courthouse. Through names, you may find addresses or emails. If you can’t find contact information, try reaching out via social media direct messages.
When contacting vulnerable sources, always check for a victim liaison. A victim liaison acts as a point-of-contact for the victim. When dealing with victims of trauma or their families, contacting them via a victim liaison can be less jarring than reaching out yourself.
Some police departments employ victim liaisons, who may get you in contact with victims of crime. The job description varies by department, but a liaison officer typically reviews a victim’s case and contacts them to walk through it. In other cases, the victim liaison may be a trusted community member, like a church leader.
Trauma-informed interviewing
While representing the victims of a crime is important, it’s not worth causing your sources additional trauma. These are human beings. Don’t wait outside their home, don’t follow them home and don’t go to their home unless invited.
Be transparent about what you want to talk about. Give the interviewee as much control over the interview as possible, let them know they can stop you at any time, the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma advises. Allow the interviewee to guide the conversation by asking open ended questions. Try asking them to tell you about the day an event occurred, to allow them to take as much time as they need to describe a traumatic event.
Be empathetic, and watch for obvious signs of discomfort. If needed, take breaks – offer the interviewee a tissue or a glass of water. Don’t rush the conversation.
Before publishing, try to reach out to your interviewee again, let them know what you will be publishing and run information by them to fact check. If possible, allow them to review direct quotes for accuracy, per the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma’s style guide.
Working with victims
When talking to crime victims and their families, respect their timeline. Some people may want to talk immediately, while others may want privacy. You’ll need to assess each situation the best you can. Sometimes you’ll be able to push back, and others you’ll need to take no for an answer.
For visual reporters, let victims tell you when and if they are ready to go on camera or audio recording. A soundbite isn’t worth jeopardizing your relationship with sources in the community.
Victims and their families have a right to say no. However, in some situations, there is room for compromise. If you’re talking to a victim’s family and you sense that there is room to push, try asking about the victim. Give them a chance to talk about their loved one, not what happened to them. What did they like to do? What were they passionate about? What will you miss about them?
You may get nothing from them; learn to work with that. It’s safe to say they declined to comment. In some cases, there may be useful information on social media. If you choose to use this, you must be transparent about where you found it. Confirm all information gleaned from social media. If time allows, try running that information past your source, they may be willing to confirm or deny it even if they were not willing to talk.
[ Reflect the diversity of your community ]
Sourcing
There’s a line between cherry picking your sources and responsibly covering the diversity of your community. You must give a voice to the community you’re writing about without resorting to tokenism – a form of discrimination that involves putting a person who is part of a marginalized group into roles held by (typically) white men. Don’t reach out to someone just because they’re part of a group you need to reach your quota, reach out to them because they’re a member of the community and they have a stake in the story you’re publishing.
In all cases, but especially when working a criminal justice beat, you don’t want marginalized people to be overly represented as criminals. This has often been the case for people of color, who are disproportionately accused of crime. Two ways to counter this:
- Have a base of many different members of the community you cover who are knowledgeable about what you’re writing about.
- Use public databases of experts from marginalized groups, like the Database of Diverse Sources created by Editors of Color.
Self-regulate your coverage
The simplest way to hold yourself accountable is to keep a spreadsheet of the sources you’ve talked to. Include their name, age, gender, race and other notes if you have it. You don’t need to ask every source you talk to for this information, but keep a general idea. At the end of the month, year, or whatever amount of time you find acceptable, take the percentages of groups represented in your source list and compare that to the percentages of groups living in your community. To get demographic percentages, try the U.S. Census Bureau website and search for your area.
[ Consider your relationship with law enforcement ]
Building a rapport
One crucial source crime reporters have are law enforcement officials, whether that be police officers, prosecutors or public information officers.
Build trust with them. If you want to learn more about developing a source base, see Build trust with sources for more information.
If you’re going to publish a critical story, give your source a heads up before it’s published, so you can maintain that relationship. And, if possible, don’t call minutes before your deadline with lots of questions. Just like you need time to prepare for an interview, PIOs need time to prepare answers.
Types of law enforcement sources
Different types of law enforcement can provide you with different information. Police officers can let you know when and where crimes are happening and how cases are progressing. Some may be hesitant to speak on the record, especially when investigations are ongoing. In those cases, they may refer you to their PIO, who can give you on-the-record statements from the police department. You should try to find trustworthy police officers who can give you a heads up when something happens and also teach you how things operate at their department.
Prosecutors, along with defense attorneys, can provide information on a case after there has been an arrest. Prosecutors are not police. They may not know the specifics of how a case was investigated, but they will be familiar with the evidence police gathered. Prosecutors and defense attorneys may not want to talk to the media, especially if it may harm their legal strategy. In those cases, it may be helpful to speak to attorneys who have dealt with similar cases in the past.
Public defenders are underused as a source for journalists. In addition to knowing about the evidence in their cases, they are often familiar with the systemic failure of the criminal justice system because they handle a high volume of cases and often work with clients who are in vulnerable situations.
Corrections officers, jail administrators and prison staff are important to speak to because the stories of people who are incarcerated tend to go underreported. These officials can give reporters a sense of what is going on inside prisons and jails.
Be professional with your police sources. But avoid making friendships that would jeopardize your ability to work in your role as a journalist.
Remain skeptical
When talking to law enforcement, you should be skeptical of what they say. Remember that they have their own interests in speaking with you, which may involve supporting certain policies and legislation, or simply their own self-interest or that of their organization. Think about their larger goal when speaking to them.
You should try to maintain a critical distance from law enforcement sources and subject all information they provide to rigorous scrutiny. Actively challenge official police statements and pursue alternative perspectives to ensure your coverage is balanced. Avoid reprinting or rewriting police press releases. Always seek independent verification. Keep in mind that law enforcement agencies, like any institution, may be motivated to minimize their own role or responsibility in incidents — particularly those resulting in injury or death. You should challenge the police’s perspective rather than adopting it. Read our section on verifying information to learn more.
[ Respect the privacy of vulnerable people ]
Types of vulnerable people
This is not an exhaustive list of all people who may be vulnerable to negative news coverage. These are groups our research covered. For advice on what language to use when reporting on vulnerable people and why, see Language matters for more information.
- Children under 18: Do not identify people under 18 accused of a crime using their name or image. Some news outlets report based on what is revealed in legal and police documents, but it’s best practice to avoid identifying children unless absolutely necessary.
- People of color: People of color have been historically misrepresented in crime reporting. See below for findings on Black and Brown people’s unfair disadvantage when being reported on.
- Previously incarcerated and currently incarcerated people: As mentioned in Language Matters, people who are or have been incarcerated are often described using terms with negative connotations, like “inmate,” that dehumanize them. Whether proven guilty or not, reporting on someone accused of a crime can change the accused’s life, so a reporter must be unbiased and responsible. If someone is acquitted, found not guilty, or has their charges dropped after a story is published, follow up if you can.
- Immigrants: Immigrants are especially vulnerable in the current political climate. Avoid perpetuating stereotypes. According to the Migration Policy Institute and others, “Immigrants in the United States commit crimes at lower rates than the U.S.-born population.” You need to know the crime statistics for your area and report accordingly. Be sure that you are reporting on all types of crimes committed by all groups of people. Avoid reporting on a crime committed by an immigrant just to appeal to sensationalism.
- LGBTQ+ people: Like any marginalized group, crimes committed by LGBTQ+ people can be used to push an agenda, so tread carefully and report accurately. See Language Matters for how to report responsibly on transgender people who are victims of or accused of committing crime.
- Victims of sexual assault and domestic violence: Recognize that there may be risks for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence when speaking to the media. Be transparent about what you will publish and what will and will not be confidential to protect their safety. Avoid “why” questions and victim-blaming. Treat victims with patience and respect. See Build trust with sources for more information on trauma-informed interviewing.
Public figures vs. private figures
Different ethical and legal standards apply to public and private figures. A public figure is an elected official, celebrity, or someone with power or influence over society. A private figure is someone who does not qualify as a public figure. Private figures have a higher expectation of privacy, while public figures are more subject to scrutiny.
This is relevant to how you handle crime coverage. For example, a police officer who was shot in the line of duty would not be a private figure, but a teenager caught shoplifting would be.
Whether to use names and images
Before anything, adhere to local rules and laws. Public record typically decides if a person’s name should be published. If their name is in the court records, it’s technically fair game, but it depends what kind of story you’re writing.
In ‘Walking while Black,’ an investigation done by ProPublica, many names were mentioned in the data, but the team decided to only publish the names of people they interviewed. This is a good example of how to decide which names you will publish.
Default to no when it comes to publishing mug shots. They are arrest photos, not conviction photos, and they imply guilt. Research from the Marshall Project and the Equal Justice Initiative has found mug shots are published disproportionately for Black and Brown suspects, while white suspects are more often shown in family photos or professional headshots. Your newsroom should have a written policy so the call doesn’t fall to whoever is on desk at 9 p.m. Before publishing one, run through a checklist. Is there an active public safety reason, like police asking the public to help locate someone dangerous? Is the subject a public figure accused of abusing public trust? Is this really the only image you can get, or did no one ask the family, check social media or call the defense attorney? Would you run a comparable image of a suspect of a different race?
Publishing isn’t the end of the decision. Mug shots get scraped by commercial sites that then charge the subject to remove them, and your original story will often sit at the top of Google results for that person’s name long after the case is resolved, sometimes in their favor. A good policy spells out what happens if charges are dropped, if the person is acquitted, or if they ask years later for the image to come down. Newsrooms draw that line in different places. Some update the story with the outcome, some remove the image, some unpublish the story entirely. Pick one and stick to it.
Remember your goal to do no harm. When you choose to publish someone’s name or image, their name and likeness are now a part of public conversation about the topic, no matter what the law decides.
