Breaking news best practices: Reaching and interviewing witnesses and victims of trauma https://www.poynter.org/news/breaking-news-best-practices-reaching-and-interviewing-witnesses-and-victims-trauma … (Corrects link from earlier tweet)
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1. Use shared documents to coordinate with everyone you work with. It’s unnecessary to have more than one person from a news organization reaching out to the same person on the same platform.
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2. Go easy. One ask on Facebook and a couple of asks on Twitter is plenty. Respect the tone and tenor of the platform.
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3. Always aim for interviews in person or on the phone. In–person interviews lead to better, clearer information. Mediated interviews through email or via text messages often lack tone and context.
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4. Be honest about who you are, who you are working for and where the information will appear. Never deceive a source, either overtly or by omission.
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5. Be clear about the purpose of your story. Are you trying to establish a timeline, profile people involved, hold authorities accountable? If the focus of your story changes, call the sources back and let them know to ensure their contribution remains in context.
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6. Be extra cautious when approaching teenagers. Children are more vulnerable that adults. Consider whether a teenager needs an adult or another advocate present during an interview.
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7. Ask the right questions. Open ended, descriptive questions work well. They can include: What did you see? What did you do? What do you know about the people involved? How do you know these things?
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8. Avoid questions that ask a source to speculate beyond what he or she knows.
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