In an article called "Inbox Journalism," Kim Hart at the American Journalism Review investigates the use of emails in the newsroom. Through case studies and comments from people in the news industry, the article presents a well-rounded view of how contacting sources electronically affects journalism.

Here are a few of the ups and downs that those Hart interviewed for the article see in the use of emails:

3 ups

• Convenience of communication; no meetings have to be organized, no time wasted
• Provides a written record of conversation making it hard to misquote a source
• Facilitates interviews between people of different languages and great distances

3 downs

• Promotes lazy reporting
• "Separates the reporter from the reality of life we're supposed to be examining"
• Creates a "paper trail" for anonymous sources, such as what happened with Matthew Cooper of Time Magaizine

According to the article, many editors still aren't sure how to deal with email interviews or their reporters gathering information over the Internet. If an interview is done solely through email, some editors require a disclosure. Some think that email interviews are just as, if not more effective than phone interviews, even though face-to-face conversations will always be most appreciated.

One noticeable aspect of the article is that Hart quotes people from all over the United States. But she never mentions how she conducted the interviews herself. Because of the diversity of locations and people, the reader can only assume that many of them were done via email.

Source: American Journalism Review through Media Channel