Thank you for your time.
You’re a busy person, and we really appreciate your giving our reporter a bit of your day. We want to help you be prepared for your interview so that it goes smoothly, and you’re happy with the story we produce. Here are a few things to keep in mind regarding your interview.
- First and foremost, relax! We are not in the business of “gotcha” journalism. We aren’t out to make you look bad — just to tell your story!
- If you want us to hold off on publishing the story until a certain time, let us know that! That’s actually very common in journalism — it’s called an “embargo.” In most cases, we can accommodate embargoes. If we can’t for some reason, we’ll tell you why.
- We will happily let you know generally what the interview will be about and what we’re hoping to learn, but we can’t exactly give you a script of questions ahead of time. You know much more about your life, your business, your organization than we do, so until we really dig into it, we don’t even know the best questions to ask! If it goes well, the interview should be a dynamic conversation. Your answer to a question might lead to another question that we had never thought of before.
- There are many reasons why you might want to remain anonymous, and in most cases, we can accommodate that request. We need to know who you are, just for verification and record-keeping purposes, but we will not disclose that to anyone – even our colleagues at Madison365 – if such disclosure could be unsafe for you. For ethical reasons, we will disclose in the published article that we granted you anonymity and why.
- The interview might take place over the phone, by video call, or in person. We can also interview you by email or text if necessary, but a verbal conversation is preferable. Our reporters record almost all interviews for a couple reasons: first, so that the reporter can pay attention to you and what you’re saying, rather than trying to write down every quote; and second, to ensure we get everything right! You are also welcome to record the interview.
- Always feel free to follow up! There’s never anything wrong with an email or phone call after the fact to say, “You know, one thing I forgot to mention was …”
- Always assume anything you tell us could be published — UNLESS you say, “This is off the record.” Anything you tell our reporter off the record will not be published. If you do go off the record, please be sure and let us know when we’re back on the record!
- Again, we are not out to get you and we will do our best to be accurate and fair. However, for this to work, our readers must have full faith that the article is independent and objective, and not an advertisement for you or your business. For that reason, we cannot offer you the opportunity to approve the article before it’s published. This is the general standard of all professional journalists and journalism organizations.
- That said, we do want all of our stories to be as accurate as possible. We might give you a follow-up call just to verify the facts before we publish. And if you see errors in the story after it’s published, let us know right away so we can get them fixed!
Our full editorial policy is online at madison365.org/about-us. Any questions regarding our policies can be sent to [email protected].
Thanks again!