Those responsible for the running of business concerns, industries, government and local government departments — in fact, any agency with responsibility for affairs of any kind — rely greatly on reports. However omniscient or clever, however elevated or important, managers and organisers cannot know everything they need to know before taking decisions without reports from others. Reports on progress, developments, accidents and projects are provided for them in many different forms by reporters of many different kinds — ‘reporters’, eye-witnesses, research and technical experts, executive specialists. Almost anyone within an organisation may be asked at one time or another to provide a report, sometimes about important, sometimes not-so-important, matters.