How one journalist uses Instagram to pull back the curtain on her reporting process

As a D.C. crime and criminal justice beat reporter for The Washington Post, Emily Davies has a few strategies for understanding how her sources see the world. Following people she covers on social media — including some public officials, but mostly “community folks” — helps her “know what they’re doing day to day, how they’re thinking, and it helps me stay connected,” she said. Because many of her sources use Instagram, that platform plays a central role in fostering those virtual connections.

But Davies used to follow sources from her personal Instagram account, which created a dilemma familiar to many reporters: Where to draw personal and professional boundaries?

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