Monday 10th May 2021, 6pm EET
The Importance of Sources for Journalists
A Ratiu Forum webinar with Alison Mutler and Chris Stephen
Something that is often overlooked today in the 24-7 news cycle, where the emphasis is on volume and where we are blessed with the convenience of the internet, is the importance of sources for
journalists. If you want to go beyond copying, filing from official statements, or simply catching up to what others have already reported on, then you need reliable and original sources. Sources give you insights, different angles or an altogether different and better story than others will have been able to produce. It is not enough to call the police when there has been a murder, or enough to speak with the party spokesperson when a political crisis is at full throttle. You need to be proactive and cultivate your own sources along the way. To view sources and the procurement of sources as shoe leather reporting in this digital age would be amiss, without good sources you will never have a truly original or captivating story. In this 60-minute webinar, experienced international news correspondents Alison Mutler (universul.net, formerly AP) and Chris Stephen (former Guardian correspondent), will discuss how best to find reliable, valuable and original sources, who can add value to the work journalists produce. In conversation with participants, they will interrogate the role of sources, whilst providing valuable anecdotes and personal advice.
journalism webinar
This event will be held on Zoom and is in English.
Places are limited to a maximum of 20 people and are offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
To register your place please email us: office@ratiuforum.com.
Panellists
ALISON MUTLER
Alison Mutler studied Romanian literature and language at the University of London and graduated in 1987. She first reported from Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova before communism ended, and was in Romania, working for British television station ITV during the 1989 anti-communist revolt. She moved to Romania in 1991 and joined the Associated Press which she left last year after 25 years. She has been president of the now defunct Foreign Press Association. She is now a correspondent for Romanian startup news site, universul.net. She occasionally freelances for Coda Story and Radio Free Europe among others.
CHRIS STEPHEN
Chris Stephen is an experienced international journalist, freelancer for Petroleum Economist and working as the Bucharest Correspondent to The Guardian from 1990-1993, a pivotal time for the country’s transition. Since then, he has reported for The Guardian and other newspapers from conflict zones including Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo and Libya. He is the author of “Judgement Day: The Trial of Slobodan Milosevic” and is currently working as a freelance reporter in North Africa for The Guardian and Petroleum Economist. His career also includes teaching accolades, working as a tutor of Impact Journalism at the Department of Journalism, Lion College, Bucharest University. His work has also been on the IWPR Hague war crimes reporting project, where he was based at The Hague in the Netherlands.