Journalist at work

Journalist at work

One of the most important activities that makes a journalist unique, is related to "sources." There are many information sources where the journalist is dependent on: news feeds, rumors and informants who offer the journalist a story to elaborate on; the lead.
In business this information processing activity is also very important as we continuously read information, summarize it, and continue our own work on the basis of the information delivered by these (third party) sources.
Information is a factor of production and information exchange and information processing is therefore supporting the main business process of an organization.
But what if the source is not (completely) correct? As information spreads itself like a virus, the error of the un-validated source may penetrate deep into the organs of the organization. When this happens the organization is working with information that is not accurate or in the worst-case scenario wrong.
We all exercise, at different moments, the role of the journalist at work in an activity where we acknowledge what we receive from others, validate it and only then continue to work with it. This is a very implicit process hardly visible but when this validation gets flawed a chain of activities gets infected with wrong data. Therefore, the journalist at work is a role to keep in mind. This is not only the case when reading information in e-mails, but also when attending presentations.
The other side is also true and implicit damaging: acknowledging a new source of information but decline it just because not trusting the source. In either way, beware of this role; the journalist at work.