Clean Up On Aisle Five

If you’ve ever had the opportunity to read a transcript of a conversation
you’ve had, let me tell you it can be pretty horrifying. Generally speaking
people are pretty articulate. But when they get in front of a reporter or an
audience someone the articulation switch frequently gets turned off.

Something happens to people when they speak to reporters or a group. Out
of nowhere conversation is filled with: um, you know, like, well, and uh’s.
Or they use jargon such as: SEO, AI or the one I love – content curation.

Do I know what content curation is? Honestly no. When someone uses the
phrase during an interview I tune out. You’ve lost me.

I record all of my interviews and get them transcribed. I’m not in the habit
of misquoting people. Reading transcripts can be painful.

I’ve conducted hundreds of interviews in my career. Some people are able
to communicate easily, succinctly and clearly. Others? Not so much.

Sometimes it’s tempting to quote someone verbatim, especially if they gave
you a hard time during the interview. There have been times when I
wanted to include all the stammering.

But a veteran newspaper reporter gave me some good advice. She said,
“Your job is not to make someone look stupid. Your job is to tell the story.”

What I do when I come across someone who fills time with “uh’s” and “well
you know’s” is I send him or her a exact quote that I intend to use in the
story. I make it clear that I took the words from the transcription. I give
them a cleaned up version and I ask, “Which one would you like me to
use?”

I make it clear that if they try and change content I’ll run with the quote
that fell out of their mouth. If they want to go with the cleaned up quote I’m
happy to accommodate.

Over twenty years and hundreds of interviews I’ve had a grand total of
zero people violate the “you can’t change the content” rule. They have all
been appreciative of having the opportunity to clean up their quotes.

I think journalists get a bad rap, but then again I’m biased. Interviewees
tend to think there’s a “gotcha” question around every corner. For the vast
majority of interviews there are no gotcha questions or moments. Speaking
for myself, I have no vested interest in try to “get” anyone. I just want the
story. I’m not doing investigative journalism.

So remember, you’re a journalist not an assassin. Don’t set out to make
people look stupid. Tell the story because that’s your job.