When journalists quote sources, is it OK to clean them up as long as the meanings aren't changed? It's usually unlikely for a source to say something right in the first interview (I know I'm not as eloquent as I'd like to be, and who knows how I'd sound if I were quoted...ick).
The American Journalism Review has an article on quotes where they interviewed several journalists and editors regarding cleaning up quotes and paraphrasing.
Linda Robertson, sportswriter for the Miami Herald, made a good point. She said there are two sets of rules for journalists when it comes to quotes, which she argued as unfair. She said it's unfair to clean up quotes when trying to portray an ordinary person while leaving quotes uncleaned in attempts to embarrass or negatively portray a public figure.
In my opinion, if the quote sounds bad, awkward, wordy, etc., paraphrase.
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Agreed. Insightful quote from Linda Robertson.
ReplyDeleteThis is something I struggle with story-to-story in reporting 2. In general I agree, if the quote has sloppy grammar, paraphrase it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in a sense I think you are always taking away the real meaning of a quote when you use it, even though you are putting it verbatim into your story. This is because you are taking a phrase out of the context of conversation or an interview and placing it into a story unnaturally.