{"id":1258,"date":"2018-11-29T17:20:42","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T17:20:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/?page_id=1258"},"modified":"2025-12-30T19:19:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T19:19:39","slug":"attribute-information","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/journalism\/attribute-information\/","title":{"rendered":"How to attribute information"},"content":{"rendered":"

J. Jonah Jamison, editor, Daily Bugle, Spider Man, Marvel Comics.<\/p><\/div>\n

“Attribute everything,” the editor said.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nearly all information in a news report should be attributed, either directly or indirectly.\u00a0 The only major exception is the information gathered by a reporter who is an eyewitness to an event.<\/p>\n

Indirect attribution:<\/strong>\u00a0 In a short news item,\u00a0 the attribution may be to a generic official source. For example:<\/p>\n

The highway was closed for two hours, police said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If there is more information that came directly from police, you don’t have to keep repeating “police said … police said” if it’s already clear what your main source is.<\/p>\n

Paraphrase:<\/strong>\u00a0 Suppose you are conveying information that comes directly from a source but does not need a direct quote.\u00a0 Then you might use a paraphrase.<\/p>\n

The accident took place on a sharp curve during a thunder storm, state police Sgt. James Millbrook said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Broadcast attribution:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Usually in radio or television the attribution comes first, and we use actualities (short video or audio clips of the source) instead of direct quotes.<\/p>\n