Recallio for Journalists: Source Management and Story Research

Journalism is research-intensive by nature. A single story might involve dozens of sources — official documents, prior coverage, subject websites, social media profiles, data sources, expert profiles. Without a system, important sources get lost in browser history, and story threads go cold between sessions.

Here's a Recallio setup designed for editorial work.

A collection structure for journalism

Journalism
  └── Active Stories
  └── Story Backlog
  └── Sources & Contacts
  └── Background Research
  └── Data & Documents
Beat Research
  └── [Your beat — e.g., Tech Policy]
  └── [Secondary beat]

Active Stories: One sub-collection per story you're actively working on. When a story publishes, move its bookmarks to Archive rather than deleting them. Your source trail is valuable for follow-ups and corrections.

Story Backlog: Story ideas you want to pursue but aren't actively working. Each bookmark is a seed — a page that suggested an angle, a dataset that might become a piece, a source you want to interview.

Sources & Contacts: LinkedIn profiles, personal websites, institutional pages for people you've interviewed or want to interview. The description holds contact info, expertise areas, and prior interview history.

Background Research: Evergreen reference material for your beat — not tied to a specific story but useful across many.

Data & Documents: Government data portals, statistical databases, document repositories. Saves the landing page with a description of what the dataset covers and how to access it.

Tags for editorial bookmarks

Tag	Use
source	A person or organisation as a potential source
document	Official document, filing, or report
data	Dataset or statistical source
prior-coverage	Previous coverage of this story or subject
to-verify	Claim or fact needing verification
verified	Fact checked and confirmed
exclusive	Information not yet publicly reported
background	Off-the-record or contextual only
published	Used in a published story
tip	Unverified tip worth investigating

Per-story workflow

When you start working a story:

1. Create a sub-collection under Active Stories: Active Stories / [Story Name].
2. Save every relevant source, document, and prior coverage article to it immediately — even if you're not sure you'll use it.
3. Tag sources as source, documents as document, claims you need to verify as to-verify.
4. Use the description to record source relationship, sensitivity, and access method: "Dr. Chen — interviewed via email March 2025. Specialist in urban planning law. Will talk on record."

As you work the story, update tags: to-verify → verified as you confirm facts. Extend the description with how you verified: "Confirmed via Companies House filing, cross-referenced with FT report."

Tracking stories over time

Some stories develop over months. A Smart Collection filtered by tag active (applied to in-progress stories) surfaces all ongoing work across collections. When a phase of reporting ends but the story continues, update tags rather than moving bookmarks.

For stories that span extended periods, the description becomes a change log:

"2026-08-15: Company denied comment. 2026-09-02: Source confirmed merger in principle. 2026-09-18: Official announcement."

This timeline inside a single bookmark keeps context without requiring a separate document.

Document and data management

Government documents, court filings, and regulatory submissions are among the most important and perishable sources in journalism. Save the direct URL and use the description to record the specific filing details:

"Companies House filing — [Company] annual return 2025. Key figure: director remuneration £2.4m disclosed on p.47."

For data sources, record the access method, update frequency, and the specific table or query that produced the numbers you used:

"ONS Labour Market Statistics — Table A02. Updated monthly, usually second Wednesday. Unemployment rate column C."

Source confidentiality

Recallio bookmarks are private by default. Never add identifying information about confidential sources in a description — treat Recallio as you would any digital record that could be subject to legal process. For sensitive source management, keep identifying details in an encrypted, offline system.

After publication

When a story publishes:

1. Tag all sources used in the story with published.
2. Bulk-select the story's bookmarks and move them from Active Stories to Archive.
3. Note the published URL in the description of the story's lead bookmark — collections themselves don't have a description field, only individual bookmarks do.

The archived bookmarks become a permanent source trail — useful for corrections, follow-ups, and demonstrating your reporting process if questioned.