NV2 – on the record
While listening to “How to be a Citizen Journalist” by Travis Smith, I vividly felt how little I know about reporting. His crisp slides on how to bring a seasoned profession into the topsy turvy world of the grassroots internet, left me wondering what that seasoned profession was all about in the first place.
For a good example of how little I know about reporting, consider this example from my life around 1998 or so. My roommate had a friend who was a reporter, she would come over on occasion and we knew each other pretty well. She found out where I worked at the time, and was very interested to know that I worked with a certain person Ms. A who was in politics. I had the odd sensation of being sortof interviewed but not really. This led to several layers on inconsistencies regarding policy: 1) Since I knew that this friend was a reporter, I clammed right up when being asked questions. These questions I would have answered freely to any other person, just because I like to talk. 2) When the friend told me I would be able to answer her questions “off the record,” I still clammed up. I was not the company spokesperson and not interested in giving background information for any story, period, due to the stress it would bring me in the workplace worrying about fallout from overstepping my bounds. So I acted a bit rude probably, and clammed up, not like I had anything interesting to say anyway. Which leads to the third and implicit policy inconsistency: 3) If you are talking to a reporter, and she doesn’t say “off the record,” does it assume you are on the record?
As bloggers, we look for material everywhere. One poetry slam I attended in San Francisco with my dh had a terrific performance by a poet who threw a story at us in the audience, regarding his breakup with his girlfriend (what else), where the girl comes to terms with her guy being a poet. Her parting line: “I’m not your girlfriend, I’m your MATERIAL!!!” Which correctly sums up the state most of us bloggers would be in if our material could yell at us.
My key question regarding being on the record. What is the default? What is polite? And most importantly, what is DONE (are people usually impolite and gather all material on the record unless explicitly asked not to?)