---
title: "Access to Sources"
description: "One of the biggest challenges is access to certain kinds of sources. The hardest to reach, according to the journalists surveyed, are Iraqi insurgents. Nine-out-of-ten journalists say insurgents are hard or nearly impossible to reach. A large majority (81%) also consider Western private contractors as being hard or nearly impossible to access, while 17% say […]"
date: "2007-11-28"
authors:
  - name: "Benjamin Wormald"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2007/11/28/access-to-sources/"
---

# Access to Sources

One of the biggest challenges is access to certain kinds of sources. The hardest to reach, according to the journalists surveyed, are Iraqi insurgents. Nine-out-of-ten journalists say insurgents are hard or nearly impossible to reach. A large majority (81%) also consider Western private contractors as being hard or nearly impossible to access, while 17% say access to contractors is possible with some effort.

Journalists identify Iraqi civilians as among the easiest sources to reach: four-out-of-five journalists (79%) describe access to civilians as either easy or possible with some effort.

This presents something of a dichotomy. If Iraqi citizens are some of the easiest sources to access, that might make them a natural focus for journalists. But, according to these journalists, the conflict’s impact on civilians is among the most under-covered topics. With declining interest among editors back home, the dynamic may be difficult to shift.

Journalists described U.S. military personnel as the easiest sources to get. Nearly nine-in-ten (86%) journalists surveyed consider access to the military officers as easy or doable with some effort, a number that in turn may be connected to the embedding program.

![](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/legacy/u6/access.jpg)

Correspondents have more divergent experiences in trying to reach American diplomats and other senior officials, most of whom live inside the Green Zone. About two-thirds (66%) of the journalists consider access to senior civilian officials as easy or possible with some effort. But more than one-in-four (26%) say the officials are hard to reach, while 7% say access is nearly impossible. And those who work for major news organizations report having more success than others.

Iraqi government officials are slightly more accessible. Eight in ten (80%) of the journalists say access to Iraqi officials is easy or doable with some effort. Another 17% say access is hard. Correspondents find it more difficult to reach Iraqi sectarian leaders: about half the journalists (53%) find access easy or possible with some effort. One-in-three (31%) say those leaders are hard to reach. Less than one-in-five (15%) report that access is nearly impossible.

Being inside the Green Zone is the prerequisite for meeting many of those sources – American military officers, American diplomats, and Iraqi government officials. They work and, in many cases, live there. Virtually all the journalists (96%) consider access to the Green Zone as essential. About three-in-four (77%) go there at least weekly.[1](#1)

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[]*1. The Green Zone, officially called the “International Zone,” includes offices and housing for senior U.S. officials as well as the offices of the Iraqi presidency and the Iraqi parliament.*

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**Next:** [Mobility Around Iraq](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2007/11/28/mobility-around-iraq.md)