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Journalism & Media vocabulary · News Gathering and Sources

Eyewitness

Meaning in journalism & media, with examples

/ˈaɪwɪtnəs/nounCore term

In journalism & media, eyewitness means: A person who saw an event, such as an accident, crime or disaster, with their own eyes and can describe what happened.

In Turkish: görgü tanığı

How it is used

Reporters at the scene look for eyewitnesses and collect eyewitness accounts. Early eyewitness reports can be wrong or contradictory, so they must be attributed and compared carefully.

Example sentences

  1. One eyewitness said the bus was travelling very fast before it hit the wall.

  2. We spoke to three eyewitnesses, but their accounts were very different.

Common collocations

  • eyewitness account
  • according to eyewitnesses
  • eyewitness report
  • eyewitness video
  • sourceA person, document or organisation that gives a journalist information for a story; also the place where a piece of information comes from.
  • citizen journalismNews reporting by ordinary people who are not professional journalists, often using their phones to record and share events they witness.
  • verifyTo check carefully that information, a photo, a video or a source is real and true before you use or publish it.
  • according toUsed to show who or what a piece of information comes from, so that readers know its source.

More terms: News Gathering and Sources

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