How news organizations can tell untold stories with source tracking

It’s been three years since we launched Source Matters, and it’s become clear that source tracking can result in so much more than just source diversity. It has inspired newsrooms to change their reporting practices and set new internal policies, improve efforts in community listening and trust building, tell untold stories and inform longer-term sustainability strategies.

Inside some newsrooms, that takes the shape of specific goals, such as improving representation of particular communities, providing source development coaching or building relationships with people and community groups that haven’t been well represented.

It’s no secret that the simple act of monitoring progress can have a major impact on achieving goals. In our personal and professional lives, many of us have checked off to-do lists, logged progress in various apps and set goals we anticipate crushing. Newsrooms are no different.

The process of source tracking, however, has often been a tedious, manual and time-consuming task. With the help of Source Matters, which API launched in 2021, tracking is automated, efficient and accessible to everyone in the newsroom. It’s a tool API built after talking with and listening to dozens of news organizations that had either done source audits or wanted to do them. These news organizations were trying to answer if tracking source diversity could lead to more inclusive journalism practices and if identifying barriers to diversity and inclusion would help their newsrooms become more culturally competent.

Over the next few weeks, my colleague, Newsroom Success Manager Shay Totten, and I will highlight some of the news organizations we work with and how they are using Source Matters to foster more inclusive journalism. Among the many examples, best practices and lessons we will share you will learn:

• Why sourcing matters, especially in an election year
• How better sourcing builds trust in your communities
• Why this is not just good practice but also necessary to your newsroom’s future sustainability
• How tracking source diversity can change your reporting practices

DIG DEEPER

• Source Matters is accepting new partners. Register for an upcoming demo or contact us to learn more about source diversity tracking.
• Follow this checklist or check out this guide for how to start a source tracking initiative in your newsroom