The objectives of this research are to study the characteristics of human source utilization and the factors affecting human source utilization in daily news and investigative news reporting of daily newspaper reporters. The method used in studying daily news reporting is in-depth interview of chief reporters of political news, economic news, educational news and sports news from 4 newspaper organizations. The methods used in studying investigative news reporting consist of content analyses of 3 cases in addition to in-depth interviews of those responsible for the reporting of the 3 cases. The findings of the research are as follows 1. In daily news reporting, the reporters mainly use human sources. The characteristics of human source utilization found in political news, economic news and educational news are basically the same. This involves using tipsters, using regular sources by duty, using representatives of the organization, using sources who are close to high-level news sources, using low-level sources of the organization, using regular sources by personal contact, using substitute sources, using knowledgeable sources, using any sources for convenience's sake, using sources according to the chief reporter's advice, using sources to confirm the reporter's own speculation and, lastly, sharing sources with other reporters. The nature of sports news reporting, however, differs from other news. What is not found in this type of reporting are the use of human sources close to high-level news sources and the use of low-level sources of the organization. In investigative news reporting, the reporters rely mainly on documents. The characteristics of human source utilization are similar to daily news reporting, except that in investigative news reporting, the use of sources to confirm the reporter's own speculation and sharing sources with other reporters are not found to be the pertinent characteristics. Rather, human sources are used to stimulate further action towards the news events. This, however, is not found to be the characteristic of daily news reporting. 2. The factors affecting human source utilization in daily news reporting of all 4 types of news are more or less the same, i.e. the characteristics of news issues, the characteristics of news sources, the reporter's accessibility to the sources, the relationship between the reporters and the sources, the reporter's personality, the reporter's field experience, timing, organizational system and bureaucracy. The factors affecting human source utilization in investigative news reporting are much the same as daily news reporting, except that in investigative news reporting, the reporter's personality is not found to be an influential factor.
