I'm playing up two aspects that Shadowrun often overlooks (And something Shadowrunners often fail to realize):
1) There are no real secrets in the Shadowrun world.
With the prevalence of the matrix, cameras, drones, grid guide, and countless other surveillance devices out there, it's nearly impossible for anyone to avoid being watched, followed, and spied upon.
2) The contacts are all part of organizations.
Even if the individual contacts are very good at what they do, the fact is they all work as part of a group. This means that someone knows what they're doing pretty much all the time.
Basically, the Atlanteans and Draco foundations have moles in each others organizations, as do the dragons (Lung and Lofwyr). Same goes for the ORC, the Seattle Government, and the news Agencies.
And right now, the 2 Faction groupings are watching each other VERY carefully. MacCallister doesn't get a cup of soycaf i the morning without a report being put on someones desk in City Hall, and much to his chagrin, Lin Yao Chang knows every time Simon Andrews does a line of novacoke off a strippers ass.
The news agencies basically have a standard "finders fee" for news they're interested in, hence why it's teh same amount. That, and we want to try and balance the secondary groups some, so that the players have a real choice in who they work with. We don't want someone to feel like they're missing out if they've been working with Athena at KSAF for several Missions, but Joe Martin is offering a little more money this week.
It's a wierd balancing act, and sometimes, yeah, it comes off a bit stilted. When you're playing in a con game where times a factor, things get rushed. Normally, I would hope the GM would balance out things a bit better, space the offers out a little. But considering that Athena and Joe are watching each other like hawks (as well as the ORC, MacCallister, the government, Dana Oaks, and Tosh), they'll move in as quick as possible to try and "lock down" informants.
Bull