20世纪末，“报料人”作为一种重要的“新闻源”嵌入了新闻生产过程，成为事实上的“新闻活动主体”。但当时的“报料人”具有随意性和零散性。从对近年来一些大中城市的媒介实践观察，“报料人”完成了职业化转向，实现了体量上的群体化、队伍上的组织化、技术上的专业化和经营上的集约化，在此基础上与制度性新闻媒体共存、互惠。在这一过程中，“报料人”不再是单一的源主体身份，而在一定时机转化成了传播主体、收受主体，并受控制主体支配。

　　At the end of the 20th century, as one of the important news sources, whistle-blower was embedded into the process of news production and became the de facto “journalistic activity subject”. However, whistle-blowers were scattered at that time. Based on the field observations conducted in some large and medium-sized cities, whistle-blowers have been more professional. They co-existed with institutionalized news media in a more organized, specialized and intensive manner. Under such a circumstance, whistle-blowers have been transforming from the news source to the communicator as well as the receiver controlled by the dominant subject.