When reading our favourite journalists’ articles or our preferred publications, we very rarely take a step back and think about where they may have got this information from.

Where are the stats from, where have they heard this story, how come they heard it first? 

Well, the press obtains their information from various sources. Top breaking news stories relating to government or critical national infrastructure normally come from interviews with key figures and experts, press releases from organisations and government agencies or official statements such as a new royal baby or a Prime Minister resigning! 

But, what about news that breaks overnight or from across the globe? The tried and trusted wire service provides news from around the world. Journalists can then wake up to the exciting things they missed while they slept!

We can’t forget about social media, it is 2023 after all and social media and online sources are excellent ways to keep up to date with breaking news. Despite Twitter’s recent questionable changes, trending topics which are updated in practically real-time allows journalists and PR’s to check what’s going on at the very moment it is announced or reported on. 

Sometimes, journalists even get their news from us. The PR’s. We are all avid news hounds and are a great addition to a weekly news round on a pub quiz team! We spot stories or see the breaking news occasionally before the journalists do. We pitch them the story, the angle while also informing them of the news itself! 

Articles which are reporting on things like ‘job vacancies are at an all time high’, or ’cyber attacks are on the rise’ get their information from organisations which do their own extensive research such as the ONS or private companies which are pitched to journalists from PR agencies. 

For us, keeping up to date with breaking news is extremely important to the success of our clients. There are a plethora of opportunities out there for our clients to comment on and contribute to, making it vital that we identify the opportunities and do it fast. 

Obviously there are different levels of credibility to each source but the number of sources that are available to receive up-to-date, real-time information on what is happening across the globe is something we take for granted. It makes our jobs within this industry much easier and makes every single day of work exciting and different. We never know what is going to happen!