Journalists–sources relationship in violent conflicts coverage: Shifting dynamics

Abstract

News sources are a major part of news production in times of violent crisis and conflict. They can shape the context in which journalists see and frame the events. The relationship between journalists and their sources during conflicts has received extensive scholarly analysis over the last three decades. This paper addresses the characteristics of this relationship by discussing the power balance between the two sides and presenting a typology of traditional and new news sources used during conflict coverage. Two major trends are concluded: (1) The power dynamics between journalists and news sources during conflict and crisis times are changing and becoming more complex, as sources are more able to influence the news and the boundary between them and journalists are becoming more blurred in today's global digital media environment. (2) New faces and sources are included in news stories, such as terrorists, enemy leaders, and ordinary citizens, enriching the audience with alternative views on the conflict. Although both trends suggest a decrease of dependence on official sources, journalists still rely most on such sources, which maintain some of their control over news flow during conflict.

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“…Nonetheless, a state of perpetual conflict burdens journalists not only professionally and ethically but also cognitively. The demand for accelerated coverage, the greater reliance on nonprofessional and distant sources via social media, and the generally increased complexity of the journalist–source relationships further impair journalists’ ability to crosscheck and verify information (Gonen 2018; Hermida 2012; Wintterlin 2017). It is therefore assumed that journalists’ reliance on their intuition is heightened; for example, the tendency to judge the in-group as more reliable and trustworthy than the out-group (Posten and Mussweiler 2013) might grow.…”

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