ProfNet is an excellent service that helps journalists find sources by sending out a question to more than 10,000 experts around the country and making it easy to pinpoint ones knowledgeable about a subject on deadline.
But reporters should be careful how they use ProfNet, or else risk giving away a good story idea.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review columnist Dave Copeland rankled ProfNet users recently when he published one reporter’s question. Copeland believes reporters rely too much on experts “who can state their pre-determined opinion for them.” So he wrote on his personal weblog, “As a service to readers … I’m starting a new feature where I’ll be posting actual ProfNet queries from actual journalists. This is your chance to read the news before it’s news!”
The query he posted was one from Fox News Channel’s Elisa Cho asking for experts to “speak about the ‘liberal bias’ at college campuses.”
Copeland makes a valid point when it comes to journalists’ misuse of experts.
His posting of ProfNet queries online is a violation of ProfNet’s terms of service and could potentially undermine the usefulness of the service; nevertheless, it’s clear that it can happen, and journalists using the service should keep that in mind before mentioning a potential scoop in a query.
If you decide to use the service, be extra careful when wording your questions, so as to give as little away as possible, yet still give enough detail so you’ll get decent responses.
Journalists who have sensitive story ideas should consider two options:
1. Use ProfNet’s cloaking option. When you do this, ProfNet doesn’t reveal what news organization you work for, and experts must enter a code number into the ProfNet site to get your name and contact information.
This helps you minimize the number of people who know you’re working on a story for a particular news organization. The downside is you probably won’t receive as many leads as you otherwise would. (“Our members and the experts they represent like to know whom they’re dealing with,” the ProfNet site says. “If they don’t know, they may not take the risk of making contact.”)
Here’s more info on ProfNet’s cloaking option.
2. Just search ProfNet’s database of experts directly. The database includes about 7,500 expert profiles. This way you have complete protection of your story ideas. For general questions and subjects, this works well. For very specific questions, this is often a lot less efficient, as it’s harder to find someone knowledgeable about your subject.
Related column: Here’s how to get story ideas galore from ProfNet.
SUBMIT YOUR TIPS FOR PUBLICATION
- What websites do you find handy for finding information?
Have you used the Web recently for a story? Send me the Website and the story and I may print them.
E-mail me at: poynter (at) jondube.com
JON’S LINKS:
