ABSTRACT
Deathknock interviews, confrontational interviews in which reporters have to challenge people about what they have said and interviewing witnesses after tragedies all demand courage. Developing a housekeeping system for the interview data. This will provide insurance against trouble, such as claims of misreporting or libel actions. Most newsrooms and news organisations insist that reporters keep interview data for a certain period before it is destroyed. Recording devices can make some people nervous and self-conscious and inhibit good quotes. But recording an interview does allow the reporter to maintain eye contact with the subject of the interview, and that is valuable for picking up important non-verbal cues. Shorthand is a cost-effective and relatively fail-safe method of collecting interview data. Many reporters possess idiosyncratic, if not eccentric, shorthand a blend of shorthand and longhand, abbreviated words and symbols.
