Who or What Gets Referenced by Whom, How Often, and in Which Ways? Exploring Journalists’ Sourcing Practices in the Context of Aged Care Coverage

Bibliographic Data

ID12909706
AuthorsTony Thomson (0000-0003-3913-3030, Queensland University of Technology, corresponding author), Alex Phan (Queensland University of Technology), Sarah Holland‐batt (0000-0001-6471-7738, Queensland University of Technology), Jennifer Seevinck (0000-0002-0668-8390, Queensland University of Technology), Evonne Miller (0000-0002-0577-3438, Queensland University of Technology), Sam Regi (Queensland University of Technology)
Year2023
Volume19
Issue4
Pages822-842
Publication date2023-05-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism Practice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1751-2786 • E-ISSN: 1751-2794
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17512786.2023.2215237
OpenAlexW4378234153
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited32

Sources are an essential component to journalistic reporting and are a critical determinant of its quality. Who or what is referenced, in which ways, how often, and why matters and can reveal important insights into journalistic practice as well as the values and implicit assumptions of both the news outlets and broader societies under study. Acknowledging this, this study examines sourcing practices of journalists working at four national news outlets in Australia over a 15-month period as they report on the topic of ageing and aged care. Specifically, the study investigates six key questions related to sourcing: Who or what is used as a source? What is the proportion of elite to non-elite sources? What is the identifiability of sources? What is the number of sources per news story? What is the proportion of primary to secondary sources per story? And how are these aspects different for different news outlets? The results reveal that journalists overwhelmingly used elite rather than non-elite sources in their reporting on this topic, used politicians most frequently in their coverage, and used an average of five sources per article. However, who was used as a source varied markedly by outlet

Context (archaeology · Elite · Journalism · Media studies · News media · Period (music · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Quality (philosophy · Sociology · Gender, Feminism, and Media · History · Law · Media Studies and Communication

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