Center Updates
Working with Hostile Sources: Building Trust with Empathy
By Kelsey R. Mesmer
Introduction: Trust toward journalists has been at a historic low since 2016. According to research, about a third of individuals believe news outlets are biased or misleading. The likelihood that you will interact with a person who holds these beliefs and is vocal about them while you are reporting in the field is high. But how to actually work through those moments is often not a feature of journalism curriculum, leaving many early-career journalists unprepared for these challenges.
The key to disarming these sources is to realize that many people have inaccurate ideas about what journalists actually do, and because of that, they may not trust the journalistic process. You can choose to view these moments as opportunities to spread news literacy and build trust with sources. When you engage in these conversations, you’re essentially helping to spread news literacy in what I call “journalistic teaching moments.”
To do this, you need to explain the “rules of engagement” (or what it means to grant an interview to a journalist) as well as your journalistic process. It helps to use empathetic communication and to lean on the fact that you are a community member and that your overarching goal is to serve and inform your community.
How to use this resource: Below are a series of reporting scenarios you might find yourself in. Each scenario presents a conversation between a journalist and a skeptical or hostile source — one who holds anti-press sentiments. Choose a scenario, then work through it to learn mental scripts that you can adapt to your unique situation. Practice these scripts so you become more confident as you have difficult conversations and encounters in the field as a reporter.
If you develop a particular beat, many of these sources may become routine sources, or sources to whom you may return many times. This gives you the opportunity to gradually build trust. Therefore, even if the source doesn’t start to trust all journalists, they may at least learn to trust you.
Finally, please only follow these tips in situations where you feel safe enough to engage the “hostile” source in constructive conversation. As soon as your “spider senses” start tingling and you feel unsafe, disengage and remove yourself from the situation.
Scenario A: “Everything you write is fake news.”
Scenario B: “You’ll twist my words out of context"
Scenario C: "Why should I even talk to you?"
Scenario D: “Your outlet has a liberal agenda.”
Read the research that informed this work:
Mesmer, K. R. (2024). An “assumption of bad faith”: Using fake news rhetoric to create journalistic teaching moments. Journalism Practice, 18(5), 1237-1255. doi:10.1080/17512786.2022.2086158
Mesmer, K. R. (2023). Unprepared for reality: Early-career journalists ill-equipped for hostility in the field. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 78(3), 301-316. doi:10.1177/10776958231180658