Wisely 's Bookmarks tagged journalism →  View Popular

With the slow death of newspapers, this beehive-like behavior is only going to get worse. And schools are not helping; they tend to have a political agenda and seem to limit, not enhance, world perspective.

I blame these three factors: the Internet; newspapers, for not acting responsibly and instead cheapening their product; and educational institutions. Schools do not teach kids how to use the Net responsibly. Kids need to be shown how to make it a useful resource rather than a source of disinformation and gossip.

What will the end result be of a nation of narrow thinkers? I do not know. We'll find out soon enough, and I suspect it won't be a good.

Who says that reporters are in charge of interviews anymore? Why should they set terms? They are the ones who are seeking information.

Are interviews about information or gotcha moments?

Is this about information or drama? As a subject, wouldn’t you be wary of that? Or does the reporter want to catch the subject in a slip of the tongue? But what does that really accomplish? Isn’t it better to get considered, complete answers? What’s so wrong with enabling a subject to think about an answer, to review it and get it right before sending it? Isn’t accuracy and completeness the goal? When I came up in the business, I was taught not to review quotes with subjects before publication but now I see magazines doing just that; as Valleywag points out, reporters even negotiate quote approval. The only reason not to do that is that you don’t want to ruin the gotcha moment: ‘You said that.’ ‘Well, I didn’t mean it.’ ‘But you said it. Gotcha.’ ‘But it’s wrong, so can’t we correct that?’ ‘Gotcha.’ We’ve all misspoken. Should we be able to take back our own words?

My words are mine. Enough said.

Quotes need no longer be taken out of context. Isn’t that the greatest problem subjects have with how their words are treated? But that need no longer be a complaint. Why shouldn’t every quote, every snippet and soundbite, link to its context in the fuller interview? If the reporter has done a great job on the story, no one need click on those links. But if you want more or if you want to investigate the context in which this person said this thing, why not make that readily available, now that we have the ability, thanks to hyperlinks and permalinks? In fact, doesn’t this change the very structure of the story? Why shouldn’t that change, too? I’ve been arguing for sometime that online, there’s no reason to insert the standard background paragraph when you can link to full background. Ditto for interviews. Think of the finished story as a summary, a guide to more information. It may give you everything you want. Or it may link you to background if you’re new to the tale. Or it may link you to more depth if you want to dig deeper. Every story becomes a table of contents to knowledge. Let’s not just reexamine the interview. Let’s reexamine the architecture of the article.

That should force reporters to reexamine the human economics of the interview: because they have to and because they can, because the power dynamics of journalist-subject have changed and because they now have new tools to do interviews — and articles — in better ways. Why not at least try?

Yes, news really is a conversation.

Len Says:



April 26th, 2007 at 8:59 am

As a former newspaper reporter, I know the power a journalist used to have. It was god-like. One small thing I could do is piece two quotes together, like this: “Vogelstein wanted to talk to me about Arrington,” Jarvis wrote on his blog. “We talk about what’s worth talking about.” The second quote comes later in your blog post, but the arrangement of it implies that it immediately followed the first. I believe I never used this tool to do violence to what my interviewees were trying to say, as opposed to tightening up the flow of ideas and information. But damn, it’s easy to play with reality, and tempting. Thirty years later, with all this interactive ability, there is no reason for a journalist to hold onto the old ways of monopolizing the conversation. Good for Winer and Calacanis for pressing the point.

Chris Newman Says:



April 26th, 2007 at 6:27 pm

There needs to be a change in the way interviews are done. I agree that a reporter should blog about what he or she is going to write and get feedback and questions from their readers. Also, if interviews are made public, then viewers can go back and listen to the entire conversation. That can help with potential problems like the “gotcha” moments and quotes taken out of context. As the way news is presented changes and evolves, so will the interviews. The way blogs are effecting news is going to help the evolution of interviews.

steve baker Says:



April 26th, 2007 at 6:46 pm

Every once in a while, I have a luminous interview. It’s usually a face to face discussion. I learn during the course of it, and it produces new ideas and new connections in my head. If it’s a really good interview, the other person feels the same way. Those are the interviews I treasure, and I’d never want to give them up for an email exchange. I’ve used e-mail “interviews” through the years for the routine gathering of facts or quotes. Not one of them has been memorable. I figure that the people who insist on this don’t want to talk to me, for one reason or another. That’s ok. If they’re feeling that way, we probably wouldn’t have a very good conversation anyway. That happens. By the way, if a person wants to converse but is worried about gotcha quotes or context, I’m happy to provide them with all the quotes and the surrounding context. It helps get things right.

Amdrew Pass Says:



April 26th, 2007 at 7:54 pm

Jeff, Great article. But, unfortunately, I think it’s about five years too early for the general populace. Most people still read hard copies. They take the word of the reporter as gospel. To tell you the truth, I’m not sure that the average person knows how to bring skepticism to reading. Even if they read something online they likely accept it as truth, for it’s wrirten down. I recently saw a statisic of the perentage of people that read things on the web who actually write things on the web, as well. It’s about 2% I believe. People aren’t ready and/or willing to question.

Certificate

On Shaky Ground —The (Baltimore) Sun; Fred Schulte, June Arney

Judges' comments: When a family of Vietnamese immigrants lost their home over a small unpaid debt related to obscure, colonial-era law, reporters at The
Sun began to investigate. Soon, they uncovered lawyers and ruthless landlords who were systematically acquiring so-called "ground rent" rights and using small debts to force hundreds of people out of their homes all over their city. In all, reporters analyzed nearly 4,000 cases filed during 2000-2006. They found outraged judges whose hands were tied as they watched how ground-rent owners -- who own only the land under the homes and are typically owed only nominal fees -- targeted elderly and deceased homeowners to acquire real estate for a song. This investigation led to significant reform, undoubtedly saving the homes of many Baltimore residents.

Largest newspapers (more than 500,000)
or wire service -
IRE Certificate

A Tank of Gas, A World of Trouble — Chicago Tribune ; Paul Salopek, Kuni Takahashi, Brenda Kilianski (read judges' comments)

Student Work (All Media) -
IRE Certificate

A Stunning Toll —University of North Texas students (read judges' comments)

Certificate

Cause for Alarm — WTHR-Indianapolis; Bob Segall, Bill Ditton, Gerry Lanosga and Holly Stephen (see a clip from the story)

Judges' comments: Tornadoes are a fact of life in Central Indiana, and tornado sirens provide warnings that can save lives. So it was shocking to learn what WTHR journalists discovered: County officials in the Indianapolis area didn’t know how many sirens they had, where the sirens were located or whether the sirens worked. Using a hand-held GPS and shoe leather, the station tracked down and mapped more than 300 sirens. They documented that hundreds of square miles of land left unprotected and that many of the antiquated sirens had not worked for years.

911 State of Emergency - WISH-Indianapolis; Rick Dawson, Loni Smith McKown, Bill Fisher (see a clip from the story)