Working the Phones: Cold Calling and Source Rapport for UK Journalists

Cold Calling: How to Get Through and Stay On

The cold call — telephoning a source with whom you have no prior relationship — is one of the foundational skills of journalism and one that is declining as email and social media make it easier to avoid. That is precisely why it remains effective: a call that gets through bypasses the filters that intercept most written approaches.

The fundamental principle of a successful cold call is brevity in the opening. You have approximately fifteen seconds to establish who you are, why you are calling, and why the person should continue the conversation. A long preamble, a complicated explanation of your story, or an immediate request for a formal interview are all likely to produce a polite refusal or a transfer to a press office.

• Identify yourself immediately and accurately: Say your name, your outlet, and the subject of your call in the first sentence. Do not disguise your purpose. IPSO Clause 2 prohibits obtaining information through misrepresentation, and deceptive identification is a conduct matter regardless of the legal position.
• Have a specific question, not a general one: “I wanted to ask about the planning application your firm submitted in March” will get further than “I'm writing a story about planning in this area.” Specificity signals competence and that you already have information — which encourages the source to engage rather than deflect.
• Gatekeepers are not obstacles: A PA, receptionist, or press officer who answers is a potential asset. Ask them who the right person to speak to is, when that person is likely to be available, and whether they can let them know you called. Being pleasant and specific with gatekeepers produces better outcomes than attempting to bypass them.
• Timing matters: Most professional sources are most reachable first thing in the morning (before the day's business overwhelms them) or late afternoon (when formal schedules have often finished). Lunchtime calls are frequently lost to unavailability. Avoid Friday afternoons for calls where you need a considered response.
• Leave a voicemail that creates a reason to call back: If you reach voicemail, leave a message that is brief, specific, gives your deadline, and tells the source what you already know. “I'm writing about the March planning application and I already have the officer's report — I wanted to give you the opportunity to comment before we publish” is more likely to generate a callback than a general introduction.
• Prepare three questions before you dial: Even for an exploratory call, knowing your three most important questions in advance stops you being thrown off course by a talkative or evasive source, and ensures you do not hang up having forgotten to ask the one thing you actually needed to know.

Building Rapport With Sources by Phone

Rapport is the quality that makes a source want to talk to you rather than merely willing to. It cannot be faked over time — sources who are regularly contacted know quickly whether a journalist is genuinely interested in their world or merely extracting information for a story. But it can be built deliberately through consistent, respectful engagement.

Practical rapport-building on the phone:

• Remember details from previous conversations: Referring to something a source mentioned in your last call — a project they were working on, an event they were attending — signals that you were listening and that you regard them as more than an information delivery mechanism.
• Call when you do not need something: Journalists who only call when they need a quote create a transactional relationship. Occasional calls to share a development relevant to the source's world, or simply to check in, create a mutual relationship. These are the calls that produce unsolicited tips.
• Be honest about your agenda: Sources trust journalists who are transparent about what they are working on and why. Concealing your angle, or pretending a call is routine when you are building towards a difficult story, damages the relationship when the source eventually realises what was happening.
• Listen more than you talk: The instinct in journalism is to drive towards the quote you need. The instinct in source-building is to let the source talk and follow where they lead. Both are necessary, but rapport requires the second.
• Keep small commitments: If you tell a source you will send them a link, call back at a certain time, or check something and get back to them, do it promptly. Sources judge journalists on reliability in small things at least as much as on the big commitments.

Recording Calls: UK One-Party Consent Rule

In the United Kingdom, it is lawful under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) to record a telephone call to which you are a party without the knowledge or consent of the other party. This is the “one-party consent” rule: because you are a party to the call, you are not “intercepting” it within the meaning of RIPA.

This legal position is sometimes misunderstood. Recording for your own reference — to ensure an accurate note of what was said — is unambiguously lawful. Broadcasting or publishing the recording is a different matter and requires editorial justification. IPSO's Clause 10 (Clandestine devices and subterfuge) requires that “journalists must not engage in misrepresentation or subterfuge, including by agents or intermediaries, except where this is sanctioned by editors and there is a public interest justification.”

In practice, most UK journalists record calls routinely as a note-taking aid, without any intention to broadcast. This is lawful and sensible. The ethical question arises when:

• The recording is of a private individual (rather than a public figure or official) speaking candidly in a context where they would not expect to be recorded
• The recording is intended to trap the subject into saying something they would not say if they knew they were being recorded
• The recording is published or broadcast without the subject's consent in circumstances where they had a reasonable expectation of privacy

For most routine journalistic calls — interviews with officials, spokespeople, experts, and willing sources — recording without notification is standard practice and does not raise significant ethical issues. Notify sources when you intend to quote them directly from a recording, and seek editorial guidance before publishing recordings of private individuals.

Difficult Phone Interviews: Hostile and Reluctant Subjects

Phone interviews with hostile or reluctant subjects — people who do not want to speak to you but who are the subject of your story — are a distinct skill from rapport-building conversations. The objective is different: you are providing an opportunity to comment and, where possible, testing the substance of your story. You are not trying to be liked.

Key principles for difficult interviews:

• State your purpose clearly at the outset: A subject who believes they are being lured into a casual conversation and then confronted with allegations they did not expect to face will feel misled and may have grounds for a complaint. Open with a clear statement of what your story concerns and what you intend to ask.
• Ask specific questions, not general ones: “Did you authorise payment of £50,000 from the company account to your spouse's firm in January 2025?” is a specific question the subject must engage with. “Are there any financial concerns about your management of the company?” is so broad it can be dismissed.
• Record the refusal as well as the response: If a subject declines to answer or hangs up, that response is itself part of your story. Note it accurately. “Mr Jones declined to comment” and “Mr Jones ended the call when asked about the payment” are different facts that may both be relevant to your story.
• Stay calm under aggression: Subjects who become aggressive, threatening, or abusive are often doing so because they cannot answer the substance of your question. Do not respond with equivalent emotion. State that you are happy to continue the conversation when they are ready to do so, and end the call if the abuse continues.
• Give a genuine opportunity to respond: This is both an ethical obligation and a legal protection. A story that shows you gave the subject a meaningful opportunity to respond to specific allegations, and records their response (including any refusal), is stronger legally and editorially than one that did not.

IPSO Clause 2: Privacy and the Phone Call

IPSO's Clause 2 (Privacy) requires that journalists respect individuals' reasonable expectation of privacy in their personal lives. In the context of phone calls, the relevant considerations are:

• Home contact: Calling a private individual at their home in connection with their professional conduct is generally acceptable where there is a legitimate public interest. Calling them repeatedly, calling outside reasonable hours, or contacting family members to put pressure on the individual may breach Clause 2.
• Personal distress: IPSO's guidance on reporting suicide, mental health, and grief requires particular care in phone contact. Calling a recently bereaved person for comment without prior contact or appropriate sensitivity is likely to breach Clause 2 even if technically lawful.
• Vulnerable individuals: Additional care is required when contacting people who may be in a vulnerable situation — recent victims of crime, people in mental health crisis, children. Seek editorial guidance before making contact in these circumstances.
• Children: IPSO's Clause 6 (Children) restricts contact with children under 16 in connection with their own or another person's welfare without the consent of a parent or guardian. Telephone contact with a child source or subject requires particular editorial care and, in most cases, prior sign-off.

Harassment Law and Persistent Contact

Persistent, unwanted contact — including repeated telephone calls — can constitute harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. The Act creates a civil and criminal offence of conducting a course of conduct that a person knows or ought to know amounts to harassment. There is no minimum number of contacts required: two incidents can constitute a course of conduct, though the courts generally look for a pattern.

UK journalism has seen harassment complaints arising from doorstep and telephone reporting in high-profile cases. The NUJ Code of Conduct and IPSO Clause 2 both require journalists to respect a subject's request to cease contact. If a subject tells you — in any terms — that they do not wish to be contacted again, you should cease contact and seek editorial advice before making any further approach.

There is a public interest defence available to journalists under the Harassment Act, but it is narrow and fact-specific. Do not assume it applies to your situation without legal advice.

In practice, most disputes never reach a courtroom: they are resolved (or escalate) through a solicitor's letter demanding that contact stop, sent to your editor or legal department. Treat such a letter seriously and pass it to your editor and legal team immediately rather than responding directly yourself. Continuing contact after receiving a formal cease-and-desist letter, without editorial and legal sign-off, significantly increases both legal and reputational risk.

De-Escalation: When a Call Goes Wrong

Not every call goes as planned. Sources become angry, subjects threaten legal action, gatekeepers become hostile. De-escalation — reducing the emotional temperature of a call that is heading in a damaging direction — is a practical skill that every telephone journalist needs.

• Lower your voice, slow down: Emotion is contagious. A deliberately calm, measured tone will often reduce the emotional temperature of a call more effectively than any particular words.
• Acknowledge without conceding: “I understand this is distressing” or “I hear that you feel this is unfair” acknowledges the subject's emotional state without conceding the substance of your story. Avoid defensive responses that escalate the conflict.
• Offer to return: If a call is going wrong, offer to call back at a time that suits the subject better, or to put your questions in writing. This demonstrates good faith without surrendering the story.
• Know when to end the call: If a subject becomes threatening, abusive, or makes statements you will need to record accurately for legal reasons, end the call politely and note the time and substance of what was said. Report the contact to your editor.

BBC Editorial Guidelines on Phone Contact

The BBC's editorial guidelines on gathering information by phone set out expectations that, while specific to BBC journalists, represent best-practice standards relevant to all UK reporters. Key provisions include the requirement to identify yourself and the BBC at the outset of any call, the prohibition on covert recording without editorial sign-off and a public interest justification, and the requirement to give subjects a meaningful opportunity to respond before broadcast or publication.

The BBC guidelines also address the specific challenge of doorstepping and phone calls to vulnerable individuals, requiring proportionality and care. While most freelancers and non-BBC journalists are not bound by these guidelines, they represent a thoughtful articulation of the principles that underpin IPSO's Clause 2 and are worth reading as a benchmark.

Working With and Around Press Offices

For stories involving companies, government departments, and large organisations, the press office is often your first point of contact by phone, and frequently the last if you let it be. Press officers are professional communicators whose role is to manage what information reaches you and in what form — understanding their incentives helps you work with them more effectively.

• Ask for the named spokesperson, not a statement: Press offices default to emailed statements because they are easier to control. A phone conversation with a named spokesperson, even briefly, often yields more useful material and additional context that a prepared statement will never include.
• Set a clear deadline on every call: If a press officer says they will “come back to you,” give a specific time by which you need a response for your deadline. Vague deadlines are the easiest way for a press office to run out the clock on a story it would prefer not to engage with.
• Do not accept a non-answer as an answer: If a press office responds to a specific question with a generic statement that does not address it, call back and ask the specific question again. Note in your story that a direct answer was sought and not given.
• Go around the press office when necessary: For urgent, adversarial, or highly specific stories, contacting the relevant individual directly (where you can identify and reach them) sometimes produces a more candid response than routing everything through communications staff. This is a legitimate reporting tactic, though it can strain future press office relationships.
• Keep press officers on side for the long term: Even where a specific call is adversarial, professional and courteous conduct with press officers pays off over a beat lasting years. They move between organisations and remember journalists who treated them fairly under pressure.

Note-Taking and Accuracy on the Phone

Phone interviews present a specific accuracy risk that face-to-face interviews do not: there is no opportunity to check body language, no shared documents to refer to, and often a poorer connection quality than an in-person conversation. Rigorous note-taking practice matters more, not less, on the phone.

• Read back direct quotes before ending the call: For any quote you intend to use verbatim, especially one that is contentious or legally sensitive, read it back to the source and confirm they said what you have recorded. This is standard practice at most serious UK news organisations and protects both you and the source from misquotation disputes.
• Distinguish verbatim quotes from paraphrase in your notes: Use quotation marks only for words you are confident were said exactly as recorded. If you are paraphrasing from memory or a partial note, mark it clearly as such so you do not later present a paraphrase as a direct quote.
• Note the time, date, and duration of every substantive call: This becomes important both for editorial accuracy (verifying when a comment was obtained relative to events) and for legal defence if a dispute arises about what was said or when.
• Use a recording as a backup to notes, not a replacement: Even when recording, take contemporaneous notes. Recordings can fail, be corrupted, or be inconvenient to transcribe under deadline pressure; notes taken during the call are a reliable fallback.
• Retain notes and recordings for as long as your outlet's policy requires: Most UK newsrooms retain interview notes and recordings for a defined period after publication in case of a complaint or legal claim. Check your organisation's retention policy and do not delete material relating to a published story before that period has elapsed.

Text and Voicemail Follow-Up

A phone call rarely stands alone. Most working journalists follow a call with a text message or email confirming what was discussed, particularly where a source has agreed to provide something (a document, a follow-up call, an introduction) at a later date. This written follow-up serves both a practical and an evidential purpose.

• Confirm agreed terms in writing: If a call ends with an agreement about how information will be used — on background, not for attribution, embargoed until a certain date — a brief follow-up text or email restating those terms reduces the risk of later disputes about what was agreed.
• Do not use text or email to extract new information after a subject has declined to comment: If a subject has clearly ended the conversation and declined to engage further, a barrage of follow-up texts risks straying into harassment territory. One further message noting your deadline and how to reach you is generally acceptable; repeated messages are not.
• Keep a copy of the follow-up: Text messages and emails sent after a call form part of your evidential record and should be retained alongside your notes, particularly for stories carrying legal risk.

Practical Checklist

Run through these before and after significant phone calls:

• I identified myself, my outlet, and the subject of my call at the start of the conversation
• If I recorded the call, I have noted this in my story notes and understand what I can and cannot publish from the recording
• I gave the subject a specific and genuine opportunity to respond to any allegations in my story
• I noted any refusal to comment or any request to cease contact
• If the subject asked me to stop calling, I have sought editorial advice before making any further contact
• I have not called the subject outside reasonable hours without editorial justification
• If the subject is a vulnerable individual, I sought editorial guidance before making contact
• I noted the time, duration, and substance of all significant calls in my story notes
• I read back any direct quote I intend to publish verbatim before ending the call
• I set a specific deadline with any press office and recorded whether they met it
• Any follow-up text or email confirming agreed terms has been kept alongside my call notes

Common Mistakes

• Burying the lede on a cold call: Opening with a lengthy explanation of your story before stating who you are and why you are calling loses the listener in the first thirty seconds. Name, outlet, subject — in that order.
• Confusing recording with consent to publish: Recording a call lawfully does not mean you can publish or broadcast it freely. Publishing a recording of a private individual requires editorial justification and often consent.
• Not noting a refusal to comment: A subject's refusal to answer a specific question is information. Note it accurately. “The company declined to comment on the payment” is different from “the company was given the opportunity to comment.”
• Continuing contact after a clear request to stop: Once a subject has asked you to stop calling — even if they have not used those exact words — continuing contact risks harassment liability. Seek editorial advice immediately.
• Becoming emotional in a difficult interview: Matching a hostile subject's emotional temperature makes the call harder, not easier. Calm persistence is more effective than equivalent hostility.
• Accepting a vague statement in place of an answer: A press office statement that does not address the specific allegation put to it is not the same as a response. Report the gap, and press again before your deadline where time allows.
• Sending repeated follow-up texts after a clear decline to comment: One message confirming your deadline and contact details is reasonable; repeated messages after a clear refusal risk a harassment complaint and rarely produce a better result.

Red Flags

• A subject who has explicitly asked you to stop calling and has been called again without editorial authorisation
• A recording of a private individual that was obtained by misrepresentation about who was calling or why
• A pattern of calls to family members or personal contacts of a subject in order to pressure them into responding
• Contact with a recently bereaved, injured, or vulnerable individual without explicit editorial oversight and a documented public interest justification
• Calls made at night or early morning to private individuals without editorial authorisation in exceptional circumstances
• A press office that repeatedly promises a call back before deadline and does not deliver, with no record kept of the missed commitment

Primary Sources

• IPSO Editors' Code of Practice (Clauses 2 and 10) — ipso.co.uk
• NUJ Code of Conduct — nuj.org.uk
• Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), Section 1 — legislation.gov.uk
• Protection from Harassment Act 1997 — legislation.gov.uk
• BBC Editorial Guidelines: Recording Phone Calls — bbc.co.uk
• Interviewing Techniques for UK Journalists — UK JournoHub