Quoting Washington Won't Get You a Pulitzer: How Sourcing in New York Times Correspondence Changed Over Time

• In Event: Examing Mediated Communication: Issues of Power, Accessbility, Sourcing, and Framing

Abstract

A comparison of New York Times Pulitzer-winning and routine foreign news over eight decades reveals that typical foreign news relies more heavily on officials in general and U.S. officials in particular, whereas Pulitzer-winning stories give more voice to average people. Modern correspondence in general employs more and a broader range of sources than in the past, with a weaker reporter’s voice. Pseudo-attribution, a questionable practice condoned in the past, still exists in awarded correspondence.

Authors

• Raluca Cozma, Iowa State University

• John Hamilton, Louisiana State University

• Regina G. Lawrence, Louisiana State University