Steve Klein (GMU j prof) forwarded the following report from the American Association of Sunday Feature Editors conference.
13 Questions to Gauge How Well You Know a Source
Posted by Mallary Jean Tenore at 5:38 AM on Oct. 19, 2010
Feature reporters know that to land a good story, you have to spend time with your sources — not just during scheduled interviews but also when your sources are going about their daily routine.
Longtime feature writer Hank Stuever, now a TV critic at The Washington Post, has a list of 13 questions he often asks himself when determining whether he has spent enough time with a source. He shared these questions during his recent keynote speech at the American Association of Sunday Feature Editors conference at Poynter. Here they are:
1. Have I used their bathroom?
2. Have I seen the inside of their fridge?
3. Have I been a passenger in their car?
4. Have we eaten a meal at their house?
5. Have I seen them with wet hair?
6. Have I watched them watch TV?
7. Have I helped with a task (hanging Christmas lights, etc.), or am I waiting to cross that line?
8. Have I seen them sleep? Or get ready for bed? Or wake up? (And that's really super advanced feature writing. The surest way that I know that I'm in is when someone dozes off — and I don't take that personally.)
9. Have I seen them shop?
10. Have I been to their office or out with them on their rounds? Have I seen them do what they do?
11. Have we gotten out the photo albums? The home movies? Did it happen without me asking?
12. Have I been to church with them? If not, why not?
13. Am I scared of this subject? What am I leaving out? Why am I leaving it out? Am I scared that my editor's going to take it out if I put it in? If the answer is yes, then I probably am scared to put it in. Always do what you're scared of.