The three sources of News

Sources of News

News sources are people, documents or any records that provide a journalist with timely and logical information. In simple words, sources are anything that gives information. Sources of news are uncountable. Sources can be hard or weak on the basis of the information it provides. Sources can be people who are involved with or affected by an event or issue.

There are various other sources like audiovisual recordings, publications, news agencies, records of government or business enterprises etc. news sources can be classified into various categories depending on their feature and kind of information they provide.

The most accepted classification of a news source is primary, secondary and tertiary sources.

• Primary news sources

A source can be someone or something that is directly connected to other event or issue. They are at the center of the issue and are called primary sources. Survivor of an accident or a protest leader can give more accurate and strong information on the happening. Primary sources can be spoken written or recorded. Written documents are the printed and published works or documents by an author. As it includes the material published on the internet, it requires a lot of cross-references. Audio or video recordings from the place of an event are also the primary source of information.

• Secondary news sources

A secondary source passes on the information. They may not be present at the occurrence of an event but they can provide secondary information on the happening. The official police reports, reports from other media, etc., are secondary sources. In some case, the eyewitness reports are also considered as secondary sources as people may interpret an event in various ways. Secondary sources are not always reliable. They can only be used for cross-checking with primary data.

• Tertiary news sources

Journalists refer to many other sources to verify the information given by the primary and secondary sources. They are called tertiary sources. Databases, encyclopedias, dictionaries, guidebooks, survey results, timelines, etc., are considered as tertiary sources.