Straight to the source : an exploratory study of Australia\u27s regional newspaper journalists\u27 checks on validity and accuracy of sources

This paper reports on an exploratory study that examined whether journalistsundertake the vital role of checking the validity and accuracy of informationsupplied to them in media releases. It also monitored how much informationjournalists used from press releases in their published work. The study followed Gandy\u27s information subsidy theory by surveying 10 local government media relations officers who regularly issued media releases viaelectronic mail or facsimile to a sample of 14 rural/regional newspapers. The data analysed found that rural/regional journalists were not adequately verifying information supplied in media releases and using a significant amount of this information verbatim.