5 takeaways:

➀ Build sources by showing up and being human. To begin building a good network of sources, Washington Post White House reporters Seung Min Kim and Tyler Pager recommend narrowing in on a beat. Then start reaching out to decision-makers, lawmakers, lobbyists, aides, advocacy groups for and against – and asking for a chat or a coffee. “I always try to meet people in person,” Washington Post White House Bureau Chief Ashley Parker said. “Sometimes during those meetings, I get really good tips and details and scoops, and sometimes I find out where their kids went to college or where they grew up, but … at the end of the day, journalism is about human relationships.”

AP White House reporter Darlene Superville agreed, saying she makes those initial meetings “all about them” and emphasizing the importance of face-to-face time at the White House. “A lot of that beat is about just being seen in the building.” Superville does not consider herself a natural extrovert but said it’s important to “learn the fine art of small talk” for the lulls before a press conference or during presidential travel, conversations that can sometimes lead to new information.

Being a well-sourced reporter isn’t magic, Pager said. “Rather, there are characteristics of reporters that are well-sourced, like basic human qualities of being trustworthy, being honest, being transparent … being nice, being someone they want to work with” even when they don’t like what you report. Pager also sets reminders to check in with sources even when they are not immediately useful to him to keep up the relationships.

Parker said her most credible sources have never lied to her. “Then there were sources I’d treat like Wikipedia, who are very good jumping-off places, but you would never quote them,” she said. Then “there were sources I would think of as like Reddit, so sometimes you have to go down the rabbit hole because once every 12 times, they’re right, but you need to be very suspicious because of who they are, because of how dishonest they’ve been in the past, and because of what their motivations are.” A final tip from Kim: “Always end a conversation with, ‘This was really helpful,’ (say that even if it wasn’t helpful) and, ‘Do you have recommendations of other people who I could be talking to who can give more insight on this topic?’” Kim recommended.

➁ ‘It’s not easy’ to be young, a woman or a person of color in Washington. Superville, who previously covered Capitol Hill, said being a young woman of color was “challenging.” “The Hill is a largely male and white oriented institution, and so you can feel intimidated going up there and trying to get whatever member of Congress to talk to you, to give you the time of day,” she said. “But you just have to keep at it, because you do have a job to do, you do have stories to report on. … It’s tough. It’s not easy, but you just have to keep at it.” To a reporter who said she was given a hard time by sources possibly due to her age and gender, Superville said, “stand up to them and be like, ‘Unless you can point to something that’s wrong in my story,’ you’re not changing anything.” For those dealing with online harassment, Parker and Kim recommend ignoring it. Kim deletes the mentions and notifications columns in Tweetdeck on days “when you’re in a really bad Twitter storm.” “When I end up looking at it and see all this crap, then it starts to kind of get under my skin a little bit, so, if you can’t see it, then it doesn’t bother you. That’s actually how I’ve learned to deal with it.”

➂ Stay organized. Pager and Kim both recommended keeping spreadsheets of every source you talk to with their name, organization, emails and phone numbers, this way if you move to a newsroom you still have your contacts. Other recommendations: Superville makes calendar reminders to check up on an initiative or piece of legislation weeks or months after it is announced to check on the funding and progress. Creating mail folders for each beat or even each story may also be helpful.

➃ Find unique angles. While not every newsroom has seven reporters dedicated to the White House the way the Washington Post and AP do, reporters can still get scoops by finding the right niche. “If you have a small team, figure out, what are you good at?” Kim said. “Just think about what is the most important to your reader, and just try to cater to that.” Not just breaking news, but “conceptual scoops; sort of those big-picture story ideas, or a different angle or different perspective into a news story that hasn’t been explored.” Pager said the same practice can be applied when you’re a greener reporter. “Maybe you are not the best-sourced … but you have an expertise, whether that’s your background, your age, whatever it may be that can give you an advantage in writing a story that is revelatory,” he said.

➄ Sometimes you have to give a civics lesson. “I think we should be taking on more responsibility to help people understand what journalism is and how we do it,” Superville said. “I think whatever we can do in our own daily lives … it’s incumbent upon us to try to help people understand.” News Literacy Project and Trusting News can help.

For more on reporters’ use of Twitter, Republican vs. Democrat sources or transitioning from covering Congress to covering the White House, see the full recording.

You may also like: Susan Page’s Five Lessons for Journalists and The Nitty Gritty of the White House Beat

Speakers: 

Seung Min Kim, White House Reporter, Washington Post

Tyler Pager, White House Reporter, Washington Post

Ashley Parker, White House Bureau Chief, Washington Post

Darlene Superville, White House Reporter, Associated Press

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