Find Different Leaders in Your Community
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Choose a story that you are planning. Then consider these steps to expand your thinking about the types of leaders who can speak with authority about this story.

Step 1: Start with what (and who) you know.
Make a list of sources you might normally go to:

1. Official and civic leaders you have contact with.
2. People from an area, neighborhood or space you are familiar with (e.g., people at a store, barbershop, church, etc.).
3. Catalysts and connectors you or others in the newsroom know.

Step 2: Get to what (and who) you don’t know.
Talk to sources you know in ways that lead you to new sources. Here's how:

Ask others in the newsroom who may be familiar with the issue or area you are reporting on:

1. Who are the “go-to” people when it comes to ______________?
2. What role do they play?
3. When people want to find out about _____________, whom do they ask?
4. Where do conversations exist about __________________? Who is in them? What do the conversations sound like?

           
Ask the official and civic leaders you have contact with these questions:

1. Whom do you turn to when you want to learn how people think about ____________________ ?
2. What are you trying to learn from these people?
3. Where do you go when you want to talk with regular folks in the area?
4. Who seems to be at a lot of community meetings, forums and events but doesn’t have an official role?

Ask catalysts you know of, or go to spaces you are familiar with, and ask these questions:

1. If I wanted to know what people around here were thinking about _________________ how would I do that? Where would I turn? Whom would I talk to?
2. If you couldn’t read a newspaper, watch TV or check the Internet, how would you find out what’s going on with ____________________?
3. Who or what do you consider to be the most reliable source on this topic?

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