The phrase "a friend reported that" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when conveying information or news that was shared by a friend, often in a context where the source of the information is relevant.
Example: "A friend reported that the concert tickets sold out within minutes."
Alternatives: "a friend mentioned that" or "a friend informed me that".
After receiving the book, Barbara Hastorf began reading it aloud to her husband in the evening, and a friend reported that the couple enjoyed reliving those stories about their lives.
The dish became the centerpiece of a meal when a friend reported that one day, while making the peas in the traditional manner, he laid a piece of fish on top of it all and allowed it to steam in the vegetables' juices.
Last night, a friend reported that the same thing was going on.
A friend reports that the last time he traveled to Berlin, he wanted to go to a certain club.
A friend reports that he saw a man in Riverside Park strewing bread on the grass a few yards from a "Pigeon Feeding Prohibited" sign and a scowling policeman.
A friend reports that she was walking her dog the other night on 57th St. between 2nd & 3rd, when she spotted a young woman….
A FRIEND reports that when she visits a new restaurant, she checks the dessert menu before she even glances at the list of entrees.
A friend reports that he was mildly surprised on reading the label on a newly purchased pair of summer trousers to discover that "This Garment Has Been Oven Baked".
A friend reports that he was strolling along Fifth Avenue in the upper Eighties one warm and welcome afternoon when he spied two elderly men approaching one another a few steps ahead of him.
He wrote a letter that year to a friend, reporting that his teacher "made a sour face and expressed the hope that, when I turn 30, I will no longer write such wild music".
The New Yorker, April 22 , 1967P. 41 A friend reports that he saw a man in Riverside Park strewing bread on the grass a few yards from a "Pigeon Feeding Prohibited" sign and a scowling policeman.
