We’ve covered some basic ground in this blog about how to gather general notes, how to write a lede, how to handle jargon and why you might consider telling a story through a photo essay rather than a written article.

Let’s talk about interviewing and quotes.

Why interview people?

A story comes alive when it has real faces, real names and someone’s own words in it. Without that, it can be construed as all the author’s opinion; it is also just a string of dry facts and data, which — let’s face it — is super boring to read.

But a story with narrative quotes from real people who were there, whose lives were altered or changed, and who can tell about it in their own words, well, that’s an interesting story that also has the potential to change the lives of people reading it. Christ knew this. He knew that a person’s story has power: He urged Christians to “witness” or share the story of their salvation with others; this is how new people find a personal relationship with Christ every day.

Because real people’s stories have power to connect with other real people, an article pulses with life when people who were part of the events are allowed to share their views of these events in their own words.

The ethics of sources

Journalists have a basic rule of ethics about features and news articles: Each story must include comments from a minimum of two people (not counting the writer).

The main reason is so the reader is assured the author is not making up the story, and that the way in which the story is presented accurately reflects the views of at least some of the people involved in the events of the story (not just the writer, if he or she has a view).

Just as in many nations’ court systems, one witness is not enough to be considered reliable testimony. Two witnesses, at minimum, are required. It’s the same in journalism. One source — a person who is your source of information — is not enough to be taken as reliable. Two is the rule. And that’s just a minimum. More interviews are even better. But a story with no quotes from anyone, or only quotes from one person, is considered unethical in newspaper journalism. Or, at least it was that way when it was taught in my school. (OK, now I’m starting to sound old. I’m 33, just so you know. I guess for some people that’s still old.)

There is one exception to this rule: The two source minimum doesn’t apply when you’re writing about your personal experience from your own point of view, such as a personal essay describing how God expanded your understanding of mission after you participated in an outreach project or something. That is your story and only you can tell it right.

But if you are writing about your church’s mission trip, or about a local church that sent out church planters to start Bible studies in neighboring villages or communities, or about anything that involves people besides you, you need to quote those other people.

So, that means when you’re putting together an article about mission news, you’re going to conduct some interviews.

Interviewing your sources

I’ll share with you the interview process I developed over five years of conducting interviews in the newspaper industry. This is what works for me.

1) Know your sources. I start by creating a list of everyone I know who was part of the story. Who organized the events that took place? Who were the central people involved?

I’ll give you a real life example. Right now I’m researching the story of the Isaiah-Caleb Project originating in the Mexico and Central America (MAC), and South America (SAM) regions. This is the project in which churches in these regions funded and sent their own missionaries to the Eurasia Region for two years.

I didn’t know exactly who went as missionaries, so I contacted an individual on the MAC region who was involved with the project and he gave me names and e-mail addresses of those who were sent. This person also e-mailed the individuals on my behalf, giving them advance notice that I would be contacting them and why. Sometimes this is a good way to make your sources comfortable with talking to you before you initiate contact. It also makes it easier for them to decline being part of your article if they don’t feel comfortable for some reason.

Often I only have a few names to start out with. So when I interview the people on my list, I ask them who else they think I should talk to, and add those names to my list. It doesn’t mean that I contact every person on my list, but it gives me extra people to call or visit if I am unable to reach other people on my list before my deadline.

2) Making notes. Once I have a start to my list, I create a new piece of paper or document for the first person on the list. I write down the person’s contact information, then a series of questions that I plan to ask.  This helps me stay focused so I don’t forget important questions while I talk with the person, recognizing that I will think of new questions to ask during the interview. At the end of each series of questions, I add two more: 1) Who else do you think I should interview? 2) Is there anything I didn’t think to ask you about that you believe would be important to mention?

After I have a notes page devoted to each person, I start making phone calls, sending e-mails or visiting these people.

3) The interview. When I initiate contact with a source, I explain about the article that I am writing, where it is going to be published, and why I want to write about it. I ask if the person would be willing to participate in my article by allowing me to interview them and include their comments in the story. I make sure they understand I may publish some of their comments. Rarely, someone will say they would rather not participate. Then I ask them if they have a suggestion of someone else I should talk to. Often, the person will volunteer the name of another helpful person.

4) Concluding the interview. When our conversation is finished, I thank the person for helping me, and give them a general idea of when the story may be published, and where they can read it. I also tell them that I might call them back later if I need additional information, or to verify their comments in my notes. That way they are expecting me to talk to them one more time, just in case I need to. I make sure that they have my e-mail address or phone number, in case they need to reach me before or after the story is published.

In my next post, I will go into more detail about how to ask the right questions and how to take down notes during the actual interview.

Tags: interview, Mission Magazine, notes, your mission story