Once upon a time,
journalism involved gathering as much information related to some current event
as possible. Journalists interviewed people who had firsthand knowledge.
Finding and connecting with those sources of information was usually tedious
and time-consuming. In many cases, people who had information were not
cooperative or forthcoming.
Good journalists also
reviewed as much information related to a story as they could get their hands
on. Sources of information could include court documents and related articles
that had been written previously. Once a journalist had all the information
together, he or she would boil it down to the essentials that consumers would
need to comprehend what was going on.