Who or What Gets Referenced by Whom, How Often, and in Which Ways? Exploring Journalists’ Sourcing Practices in the Context of Aged Care Coverage

Thomson, TJ; Phan, A; Holland-Batt, S; Seevinck, J; Miller, E; Regi, S

Who or What Gets Referenced by Whom, How Often, and in Which Ways? Exploring Journalists’ Sourcing Practices in the Context of Aged Care Coverage

Thomson, TJ Phan, A Holland-Batt, S

Seevinck, J Miller, E Regi, S

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Publisher:: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journalism Practice, 2025, 19, (4), pp. 822-842
Issue Date:: 2025-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Thomson, TJ
dc.contributor.author	Phan, A
dc.contributor.author	Holland-Batt, S https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6471-7738
dc.contributor.author	Seevinck, J
dc.contributor.author	Miller, E
dc.contributor.author	Regi, S
dc.date.accessioned	2025-10-15T04:20:58Z
dc.date.available	2025-10-15T04:20:58Z
dc.date.issued	2025-01-01
dc.identifier.citation	Journalism Practice, 2025, 19, (4), pp. 822-842
dc.identifier.issn	1751-2786
dc.identifier.issn	1751-2794
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/190504
dc.description.abstract	Sources are an essential component to journalistic reporting and are a critical determinant of its quality. Who or what is referenced, in which ways, how often, and why matters and can reveal important insights into journalistic practice as well as the values and implicit assumptions of both the news outlets and broader societies under study. Acknowledging this, this study examines sourcing practices of journalists working at four national news outlets in Australia over a 15-month period as they report on the topic of ageing and aged care. Specifically, the study investigates six key questions related to sourcing: Who or what is used as a source? What is the proportion of elite to non-elite sources? What is the identifiability of sources? What is the number of sources per news story? What is the proportion of primary to secondary sources per story? And how are these aspects different for different news outlets? The results reveal that journalists overwhelmingly used elite rather than non-elite sources in their reporting on this topic, used politicians most frequently in their coverage, and used an average of five sources per article. However, who was used as a source varied markedly by outlet.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
dc.relation.ispartof	Journalism Practice
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1080/17512786.2023.2215237
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	1903 Journalism and Professional Writing, 2001 Communication and Media Studies
dc.subject.classification	3602 Creative and professional writing
dc.subject.classification	4701 Communication and media studies
dc.title	Who or What Gets Referenced by Whom, How Often, and in Which Ways? Exploring Journalists’ Sourcing Practices in the Context of Aged Care Coverage
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	19
utslib.for	1903 Journalism and Professional Writing
utslib.for	2001 Communication and Media Studies
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/School of Communication
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design and Society
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design and Society/School of Communication
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.rights.license	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.date.updated	2025-10-15T04:20:57Z
pubs.issue	4
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	19
utslib.citation.issue	4

Abstract:

Sources are an essential component to journalistic reporting and are a critical determinant of its quality. Who or what is referenced, in which ways, how often, and why matters and can reveal important insights into journalistic practice as well as the values and implicit assumptions of both the news outlets and broader societies under study. Acknowledging this, this study examines sourcing practices of journalists working at four national news outlets in Australia over a 15-month period as they report on the topic of ageing and aged care. Specifically, the study investigates six key questions related to sourcing: Who or what is used as a source? What is the proportion of elite to non-elite sources? What is the identifiability of sources? What is the number of sources per news story? What is the proportion of primary to secondary sources per story? And how are these aspects different for different news outlets? The results reveal that journalists overwhelmingly used elite rather than non-elite sources in their reporting on this topic, used politicians most frequently in their coverage, and used an average of five sources per article. However, who was used as a source varied markedly by outlet.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/190504