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High School Journalists

By Jay Dickerson
NINA Board Member

It was supposed to be a simple business story. Owners of a local 50-year-old body shop decided to sell their business to the car dealership across the street. I set up times to interview the previous owners and the husband-and-wife new owners.

And I ran into a question. “Can we see the story before it runs?”
I smiled and politely explained no, and if I had any questions as I wrote the story, I’d call them.

To say the least, to them that response was unsatisfactory. The husband scowled. The wife said she would smack me upside the head if there was anything wrong. Her favorite commercial, in fact, was that credit card commercial in which David Spade smacked a coworker around.

She then made a swinging motion with her arm toward my head. “‘I predict a no-storm,’” she said, quoting the lesser Saturday Night Live alumnus.

Her husband thought that was pretty humorous, and stopped scowling.

In the course of an interview, I may hear that question phrased in different ways. I once interviewed a kid in jail, who insisted the story not run until he sees it. Others who have asked recently include county board members, a homeowner whose new house was full of mold, and a children’s book author.

Rarely are the stories controversial. Most of the time, they’re simple feature stories. Months will go by and I’ll not hear that question at all. Over the past week, I’ve heard it three times. This was the first source, however, who took a swing at me.

In my first week as a reporter at the Herald Times in Gaylord, Mich., I interviewed a dentist who, within the first minute of the interview, said, “You want to know how to make a reporter nervous? Ask to see the story before it runs.”

I didn’t let him see his story, either.

Sometimes sources need reassurance they’re not going to come off badly. Some sources might be concerned about being quoted accurately, while others simply don’t want to look stupid.

I can remember working at my high school newspaper, where I first learned to write. I would allow teachers and other student sources to see the stories without fail, something that the publications adviser later took me to task for when he found out.

I’m glad I learned not to do that then. Teaching journalism in high schools carries its own albatrosses, especially in a post-911, post-Jayson Blair world, where many students feel newspapers need government approval for their stories.

The principled journalist in all of us should decry any extra layer of censorship. The pragmatist in all of us really doesn’t want to waste any extra time talking to any one source longer than we have to. We all have deadlines. We all have a mountain of work piled in front of us. We all just want to get it done.

Sometimes there is no way to reassure a source, other than acting professionally and proving to him or her in the end — once the story finally sees print — that you knew what you were doing all along. In many ways, allowing the source to see the story before it runs is unprofessional. It makes you look like you aren’t able to get it right the first time, or you simply weren’t listening during the original interview.

During the interview, make it clear you’re paying attention. Listen. Ask a question if there’s something you don’t understand. Hell, repeat what they just said, so they know you’re taking care to quote them verbatim. Get it right the first time.

Sources don’t want to look stupid. We need to reassure them we’re not looking to burn anybody. We only want the facts. We want to get it right the first time, which should be the most important thing.The principled journalist in all of us should decry any extra layer of censorship. The pragmatist in all of us really doesn’t want to waste extra time talking to any one source more than we have to. We all have deadlines. We all have a mountain of work piled in front of us. We all just want to get it done.

So I set to work writing the story about the body shop changing hands. As of now, the paper has been out 24 hours. One of our advertising guys happened to be at the dealership when they received their paper.

They were pleased to be on the front page of the second section, with a huge three-column picture. They marveled at that. And they promptly set the paper down and talked to our ad guy for a while. I’ll bet they haven’t even read the story.

I could slap them for that.

Jay Dickerson is the editor of the Galena Gazette Contact him at editor@galgazette.com.