In one of those two cases, the entire “quote” was one sentence, completely made up (and crazy).
The other case was a mixed bag, where most statements were quoted correctly (not literally, but in a way that didn’t change their meaning, and I am perfectly okay with that), but there was one specific thing where the journalist clearly wanted me to say something, tried various ways of “but wouldn’t it be possible that...” and “you can’t be 100% sure that it isn’t the case that...”, and after I stubbornly resisted, she just made up a quote that agreed with her, and that I would obviously never have said.
But outside of that one thing, the rest of the interview was okay.
I also know two journalists who make interviews in a style “let’s talk for half an hour in front of a camera, then publish it online with minimum editing”. One of them started doing it on YouTube, later he got employed in a mainstream newspaper. The other already started as a journalist, first doing paper interviews, later also video interviews. (Both of them non-English.) These two I would trust in a video interview, and probably also in a paper interview. But I’ve never interacted with either of them.
I think we tend to agree on the method to safely talk to a journalist. At least, the method that I see you write about is virtually the same as the method I suggested in my comment.
What I want to emphasize though is that for most ordinary people whom journalists will try to talk to, the format will mostly be just talking to the journalist and letting them write an article later. Most journalists will not do the whole long form interview that recorded and video taped with people who aren’t already famous.
So for your average person who doesn’t already know the depths of journalist depravity, it’s much better to just have a blanket “don’t talk to journalists” rule.
Did you ever have a positive experience where the interviewer didn’t misquote you?
In one of those two cases, the entire “quote” was one sentence, completely made up (and crazy).
The other case was a mixed bag, where most statements were quoted correctly (not literally, but in a way that didn’t change their meaning, and I am perfectly okay with that), but there was one specific thing where the journalist clearly wanted me to say something, tried various ways of “but wouldn’t it be possible that...” and “you can’t be 100% sure that it isn’t the case that...”, and after I stubbornly resisted, she just made up a quote that agreed with her, and that I would obviously never have said.
But outside of that one thing, the rest of the interview was okay.
I also know two journalists who make interviews in a style “let’s talk for half an hour in front of a camera, then publish it online with minimum editing”. One of them started doing it on YouTube, later he got employed in a mainstream newspaper. The other already started as a journalist, first doing paper interviews, later also video interviews. (Both of them non-English.) These two I would trust in a video interview, and probably also in a paper interview. But I’ve never interacted with either of them.
I think we tend to agree on the method to safely talk to a journalist. At least, the method that I see you write about is virtually the same as the method I suggested in my comment.
What I want to emphasize though is that for most ordinary people whom journalists will try to talk to, the format will mostly be just talking to the journalist and letting them write an article later. Most journalists will not do the whole long form interview that recorded and video taped with people who aren’t already famous.
So for your average person who doesn’t already know the depths of journalist depravity, it’s much better to just have a blanket “don’t talk to journalists” rule.