User blog comment:FairyRaven/Fairy Tail Chapter 423: Do It All for Love, Review and Commentary/@comment-4164634-20150309163830/@comment-7418318-20150310163833

Yes, but within certain limits. If too many such A knows about B who knows about C who knows about D are stringed together it's just too convenient for the characters and thus unbelievable.

Stringing at most three such things together (meaning three groups not three individuals) then going back to Lucy's journalist sources sounds like a good balance to me.