Press Service at Your Service: How to Acquire Quality Information from State Bodies

First, you need to create a database of press secretaries of all press services of state bodies. It will be very useful and functional if you perceive the internal structure of press services of various agencies and know how many persons work there and who is responsible for what.

You should enter names and surnames of people and their specialisation into the database.

Of course, the database must contain contacts of press service officers: phone numbers – fixed and mobile, e-mail, accounts in social media.

Also, you must enter the form of journalist request preferred by press service officers. Some accept requests via e-mail, others require formal letters and by post, others want to receive requests via WhatsApp or other social media.

It is easier to store this database in a digital form.

The journalist needs to get acquainted with press officers of state bodies, who he/she will contact often. Personal acquaintance is better.

To do this, the journalist must attend events organised by state bodies, and try to establish friendly relations.

There is no use of addressing press service to get publicly available information.

Therefore, before making a request, the journalist needs to study open information sources – websites of agencies, social media accounts, messengers.

Before making a request to a state body, you need to know what the agency does and what its competencies are. You should do this not to ask questions that will never be answered. You should know the difference between the functions of the National Bank and the Ministry of Finance, for example.

Moreover, the journalist must clearly understand which services and offices there are in the agency and their responsibilities. It can help make a more adequate request and make it clear for the press service that the journalist knows that the state body has relevant information.

Before you make a request, you should study the topic. The more detailed and specific the questions are, the more likely it is that you will get the information you need, rather than a formal reply.

It is advisable to ask for the interview, not a written answer. The interview may be done by phone. By doing this, you can get maximum information and ask follow-up questions.

The journalist must check the names, surnames and titles of speakers taking part in their stories with the press service. This is always important, especially for TV news, which go on air promptly and where you cannot correct the mistake.

The same refers to the names of programmes, projects and documents.

If the press service provides some researches, reports or reviews to the journalist, he/she should follow the rules of citation. In no case, such information may be reported as their own. Moreover, citation must not be distorted.

No, you should not. However, the journalist can show the text to press officers, if he/she wants to make sure that the material contains no errors. Moreover, you can submit not all text, but a fragment containing the information provided by the relevant agency.

Before you send the material for approval, you should warn that the editors will not rewrite the material at the agency’s will.

If the article or video was published, you should notify those who helped you with the material. For example, you can share a link to the article or video, send a copy thereof to the press service. A thank you would be appropriate. It can help maintain friendly relations with press officers.

If they refused to provide you with information, you should write an official letter to the administration of the state body asking them to facilitate data acquisition.

However, you should keep in mind that it’s most likely that the management refused to give a comment to the media. In this case, your request will be useless. However, in future, they may think twice before turning down a persistent journalist.

Also, you should mention in your material that the agency refused to provide information to you. But you should give a chance to remedy the situation by providing information to you.

The journalist must clearly know the laws on information of their country, including citation rules. Thus he/she will understand their right to obtain information from state bodies, and responsibilities of the latter to provide information.

It is important to understand that every agency has information that may not be disclosed. This information comprises information for official use, secret information, state secret, etc. The journalist must know what information can be or cannot be provided not to waste time on waiting and not to make press officers nervous.