A tip arrives by email. What does a journalist ask before deciding to pursue it?
Is it genuinely interesting, is the topic relevant to the public, and is it a one-off — or a symptom of something larger?
* A tip clears three filters — interesting, relevant, one-off-or-pattern — before it earns the concrete next steps. *
Not every incoming lead is worth a story, so the first move is triage with three filters:
- Is the input interesting / engaging? Would an audience actually care?
- Is the topic relevant? Does it matter beyond the person who sent it?
- Is it a single case (Einzelfall) or a pattern? A lone incident may be a minor story or none at all; the same thing happening repeatedly points to a systemic problem worth real investigation.
Only after the lead passes triage does the work begin — define the concrete next steps (step 1, step 2, …): which sources to approach, what to verify, what documents to request.
Tip: "Is this an isolated case?" is often the most valuable question — turning one complaint into "is this happening to many people?" is how small tips become significant investigations.
Go deeper:
News values — the criteria that decide whether a lead is worth a reporter's time.