Quotes, quotes and more quotes ...

That's a great way to put it.

 

I'm not sure journalism schools are teaching students how to use and select quotes any more. I think new reporters also forget that when you're interviewing someone, a lot of your questions aren't geared for getting a good quote, sometimes you're just looking for new information or confirmation of facts you've received elsewhere so you have accurate information to present that doesn't come in the form of a quote.

 

I'd say it works when the line of quotes creates story flow rather than stalls it.
Made-up example:

"I threw a lot of sliders today, probably more than I've thrown in any of my starts this year," the pitcher said.
"And his slider was unbelievable. I've caught him for three years now and the slider was filthier than I've ever seen it," the catcher said.
"I called a change up in the second inning and the catcher gave me a dirty look," the pitching coach said. "When he came back to the dugout after the inning, he told me 'forget the change today. Call sliders.'"

Each quote builds off the other. You could probably use just one if you are looking at a tight news space, but it flows.

You might throw in a couple of transitions in that sequence, but that series of quotes works for me. By contrast, you could end up with this:
"My slider was good today," the pitcher said.
"His slider was really nasty today," the catcher said.
"I called a lot of sliders because it had a lot of bite today," the pitching coach said.
That's a redundant waste of space.

 

I'll build on this thought using my example in the post above. The stacked quotes I used could be shortened to something like:


The pitcher said he threw more sliders today than in any start this year and it's no wonder considering Mike Piazza, his catcher, said it was "filthier" than he's seen it in their three years together as a battery.

"I called a change up in the second inning and the catcher gave me a dirty look," the pitching coach said. "When he came back to the dugout after the inning, he told me 'forget the change today. Call sliders.'"



It's more concise and probably tells the story a little better than the stacked quotes.

But I'm not condemning stacked quotes. Sometimes, they do work.

 

Only time in my career i quoted ANYONE beyond two consecutive graphs was at the end of my one year covering the nba. it was before the sixers championship round 'fo, fo and fo' run to the '82-'83 title (for all the kids out there, the "fo', fo' and fo'" was moses malone's prediction going into the playoffs -- when asked for a prediction, mo just said 'fo', fo' and fo' -- mospeak to say the sixers would sweep all three rounds (he was 1 game off). of course, i was right there, led my piece with the 'fo', fo' and fo', only to pick up my paper the next day and see it had been changed to 'four, four and four' by our out-of-touch, trying-to-be-p.c. sports ed. i went apespit, ranting, 'the effin n.y. times and s.i. used fo', fo' and fo'!!! but we had to clean it up, when every effin' tv station played the tape for everyone to see/hear 'fo', fo' and fo'!!'

AARRGGHH!! apparently i'm still not over it.

anyway, to start the playoff i did a takeout on whether dr. j was finally going get an nba ring. the knicks were their first-round opponent. after a practice i asked then-nix coach hubie brown, who spent years coaching vs. doc in the aba, about julius...a understood the real julius and he went off on an incredible riff about how only those who saw erving in the aba understood and appreciated the 'real julius,' who toned down his game to assimilate to the established league after the merger.

if i have time to reconstruct it later i'll post it suffice to say that it took four, fat graphs for hubie to tell the tale. and anyone familiar with hubie's voice and rhythm can HEAR him tell it.

the day it ran, none other than loopy called me at home to rave about how he loved it so much he called his bf paul westphal, who played briefly for hubie, to read it to him. when i said i'd been hesitant to just let it ride straight through, uninterrupted, even mikey agreed it was a rare, even unique, instance when it was best to just sit back and let the speaker tell his story.

and i must tell you, for a still-young, relatively inexperienced reporter who still revered mike, his stamp of approval was HUGE.

 

here's the hubie oni julius erving quote is used abut one-third into a 30-inch piece. it may not be verbatim (hey, it is 28 years later, cut me some slack) but it's pretty darn close:

“Hey, people in the nba think they know the real doc. But let me tell you, the only people who know the real doc is those of us who saw him in the aba. Because he was un-freakin’-real.

“when I was in kentucky coaching against doc at our place, I had only one rule: If doc was off on a break, when he got to the foul line you had to foul him. If you didn’t, it was a $50 fine. ‘cause what would happen, if doc came down on a break and dunked, he’d turn your crowd against you and for him. I mean, guys would be in our stands, cheering for us, and then all of a sudden they’re slappin’ hands and hootin’ and hollerin’ for doc!

“I mean, doc would come down the lane and he’d go up… then the white guys would go up. And then black guys would go up. Then the white guys would come down. And the black guys would come down… And doc’s still up there, effin’ around!

‘oh, and how artis (gilmore) hated when doc came to town, ‘cause he’d come down the lane, shakin’ and jivin’, and throw the ball down on him! I mean, I thought he’d give artis a nervous breakdown! So, yeah, if doc got to the foul line on a break, damn straight you had to foul him, or it cost you 50 bucks.

“That, everybody from the aba knows, was the real Julius erving.”

 

I try. At first, they want to use everything that was said. Then, when I finally get them to not empty their notebooks, they make some odd choices — choosing the cliche rather than the great phrasing, etc. Eventually most of them get it but it's a challenge.

 

great stuff, shockey

and proof that any "rules" about limiting quotes to a certain length are silly

i think the use of tape recorders has led to overly long quotes. you get into that mindset of ... "OK, I have 420 words written ... this quote makes it 585 words ... almost done" instead of just, "What's best for the story?"

but once in a while, you get a quote so perfect, you just run the whole damn thing

editing quotes is a tough thing to do because it makes our job harder, but it's definitely important

shockey makes a great point -- if you have a really terrific short quote that's amid a long quote ... run the good part. if you want to run the rest farther down, fine, but short quotes are powerful quotes

good discussion

 

Shockey, your example is a great one. There are times when a quote can tell things better than the author's own words.

I cannot emphasize this point enough: If the quote doesn't fall into that category, don't use it. The best writing -- be it for newspapers, magazines, books or Twitter -- relies only on the best quotes. Do enough reporting, and you'll find enough great quotes to pad out that feature story.

Nothing wastes more space in a typical news hole than bad quotes.

 

That was awesome.

 

I found that my time as a sportswriter helped tremendously in quote selection when I went to the news side. A couple of years of coachspeak is a good training ground for businessmen and politicians.

 

Use quotes only when they add something to the story.

My two pet peeves...
1) Carlton High started its comeback with two runs in the fifth inning.
"We started the comeback when we got those two runs in the fifth," coach Harris said.

(If it can be paraphrased, then do it and leave it alone)

2) Stringing numerous quotes end to end...we have a guy in our company who is notorious for putting 3-4 paragraphs of quotes bunched together. It's overkill. Find the quote that impacts the story best and use that...please, don't empty your recorder on me.