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Module 05 / Lesson 17 · Read, apply, check
Respond to source requests with relevant expertise, concrete evidence and realistic availability.
Read the actual question, source requirements, deadline, time zone and intended format. Determine whether the client has firsthand knowledge or merely a commercial interest in the subject. A request for someone who has implemented a process is different from a request for general commentary about it. Check the journalist’s identity and professional context through current public information when necessary. Do not respond to every request with the same executive biography. The useful response is one that makes it easy for the reporter to see why this source fits this question and can help within the available time.
Provide a concise, substantive response before a long credential list. Include a specific example, mechanism or observation that answers the question, with a short explanation of how the source knows it. Distinguish personal experience from a broader claim about an industry. Offer supporting records or a follow-up conversation when available. Avoid turning a journalist’s request into a product advertisement. An executive can be identified with their company while still contributing information that stands on its own. The agency’s role is to help extract the useful answer and verify the facts without inventing the source’s experience.
Obtain the source’s approval for the response and confirm that they can answer follow-up questions before the deadline. Preserve the wording and context of any proposed quote. If the journalist requests a phone call, give actual windows with time zones rather than saying available anytime when the executive is travelling. State relevant commercial relationships or interests. Where the question touches an area outside the source’s expertise, explain the limit or decline. Being reliable on a narrow topic can build more trust than claiming universal authority and providing a fluent but unsupported answer.
A useful response may still not appear because the story changes, another source is a better fit or space is limited. Do not demand a backlink or a mention as payment for answering a question. Record the request, response, approval, deadline and any follow-up. If coverage appears, check the factual treatment and share an accurate summary with the client. If it does not, retain the underlying insight for appropriate future use without suggesting the journalist owes the agency a result. Review which topics produce substantive conversations so the source programme becomes more focused over time.
Fictional journalist request and reply, annotated for fit and usefulness.
Seeking a procurement leader who personally changed contract arrangements after repeated delivery failures. Need a specific example and interview availability.
Source: procurement lead at a regional hotel group.
Relevant decision: split a supplier contract after reviewing three months of missed deliveries.
Trade-off: resilience improved as a decision objective, but purchasing leverage was reduced. Explain the actual observed evidence separately.
Access: two confirmed interview windows; exact response approved by the source.
Firsthand experienceRelevant trade-offClear availabilityFirsthand knowledge that answers the actual request.
A concrete point, example and basis for knowing it.
Approved wording and realistic follow-up availability.
The request, response and actual outcome kept separately.
A fictional agency client manages procurement for a regional hotel group. A journalist asks for operators who changed supplier terms after repeated delivery failures. The agency verifies that the client personally led such a change and obtains a specific example: the team split a contract after measuring missed deliveries over three months. The response explains the decision, the trade-off in purchasing leverage and the limits of the observation. It includes the client’s role, relevant commercial interests and two confirmed interview windows. The client approves the exact wording before submission. Whether or not the quote is used, the agency records a useful evidence-backed contribution and learns that procurement reliability is a credible expertise area for this source.
Another agency sends a generic answer about the importance of partnerships from a founder who has never managed procurement. It adds promotional product links and claims the founder is available immediately, despite having no approval. When the journalist asks for details, the agency cannot provide them. The quick response has created more work for the reporter and exposed the absence of relevant experience behind the polished commentary.
Speed matters when a deadline is real, but the fastest irrelevant answer is still irrelevant. Build an approved expertise map and source availability process so the agency can respond quickly with substance. Do not let a short deadline become an excuse to invent experience, quotations or certainty about an unfamiliar subject.
Use the journalist’s current requested format and contact route. A source response is an offer of information, not a purchase of coverage or links. Keep sensitive client details within their approved scope and agree unusual attribution terms before supplying material that depends on those terms.
Do this today · 30 minutes
Prepare the procurement client’s response to the journalist request.
Use a document or spreadsheet and the fictional case in this lesson. Public or synthetic evidence is sufficient; no purchase or real outreach is required.
Before: Firsthand knowledge that answers the actual request.
After: The request, response and actual outcome kept separately.
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Have a colleague review your decision and evidence. Record the unresolved question, its owner and the next review date before using the plan with a client.
Before you move on
A journalist needs someone who personally renegotiated supplier terms after delivery failures. Your client sells procurement software but has never done that work. Another client has relevant firsthand experience and can approve a response before the deadline. Which source should you offer?
Next lesson →Society of Professional Journalists: ethics resources
Lesson edition 1.0 · References reviewed 16 October 2026 · Practical exercise reviewed 16 October 2026. Examples are illustrative teaching scenarios.
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