Can I use answers to questions asked by other interviewers?

If I may ask, why a Q&A? As the saying goes, that's stenography, not journalism.

 

It always seems to bug me when someone says "(player) told me" when referring to an answer from a press conference. To me, that indicates 1-on-1 exclusivity, not just getting an answer at a press conference (this doesn't refer to anything in print, but rather more what I read from time to time on Twitter)

 

Mainly due to time constraint. I work part time, and got 14 drafts that need to go out this week, my son is complaining about not having seen Lego Batman yet and the wife is starting a new job. Its an unusually crazy month.

I completely agree it's not a good strategy, so it might not end up that way. But the draft/transcript I started with made me think of things I've not thought of before, cause I've not been in such situation.

 

Time constraints are a part of the business. In many cases you need to interview, transcribe and write quickly in journalism. You don't have two days to turn around a story; your publication will want your story as soon as possible unless it's a deep investigative story or an extended feature.

I'm sympathetic to the real world intervening. But whether you're an education reporter covering a council meeting or an NFL reporter at the Super Bowl, time is always of the essence.

 

Make sure you say you had an exclusive interview like a TV guy did once when it was just me and him interviewing Jerry Stackhouse. He held his camera and microphone; I asked all the questions.

 

If you are really shrewd, you'll call people who weren't at the group interview and imply that various questions were asked. They will assume those questions were asked, and you might get some juicy tidbits.

Happy fishing!

 

If it wasn't OK to use the answers to other people's questions, there are some reporters out there who would not have a career.

 

It always drives me nuts when people sit there stone silent at a press conference or on a conference call. What the hell did you come there for if you're not going to ask anything?

 

On a Q&A type article, I don't think it's necessary to credit the questions unless there is some reason to point out that local columnist John Doe asked some of the questions and the athlete responds -- maybe there is back story on other stuff he has written or some tension.

Otherwise, I take editing liberties with Q&As. You can say the athlete sat down with you and other reporters to answer questions about the coming season and his return from injury or whatever.

But don't dump your tape recordier and go through all questions and answers in order.

Start with good ones. Leave out bad ones. Trim answers if he starts to ramble.

Unless you are crediting the reporters asking the questions, I would trim those way back to what you need to set up the answers.

Leave out the boring stuff.

Good luck.

 

Sometimes they are good for quick hit things. Generally not the main course.

 

I've considered using a Q/A when there's too much good content from the interview to fit in a regular story.

Interesting though, OP is going with Q/A for time's sake. Depending on how many questions and how long the answers were, I think transcribing a Q/A might actually take longer to type up.

 

Maybe somebody already asked the question they were going to ask.

I don't know why this would bother you. Who cares?

I'd rather have someone sitting there doing nothing than someone asking a stupid question just because they feel obligated to ask one.