The Boston Globe-Advance

Seriously, none of you splendid readers (besides the exemplary Mike and Bob) want to weigh in on whether the Boston Globe should give questions in advance to interview subjects?

The hardworking staff is bitterly disappointed.

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3 Responses to The Boston Globe-Advance

  1. Jim Mulligan's avatar Jim Mulligan says:

    No questions in advance!

  2. Mr Punch's avatar Mr Punch says:

    If you don’t give questions in advance as a matter of policy, then you can’t interview (“interview”) people who insist on that. What’s the assumption here? That no one wants to hear from them? That it’s beneath the reporter to deal with such people? It’s not ideal, primarily because it precludes follow-ups and facilitates evasion, but I think it’s acceptable as long as the preparation is noted (papers do refer to “prepared statements” and even “telephone interviews”) and as long as questions asked but not answered are cited.

    • Campaign Outsider's avatar Campaign Outsider says:

      Fair enough, Mr. P. I guess I was thinking more in terms of TV (my last fulltime journalism gig), which precludes telephone and email interviews.

      Plus, how weird would it be to say before starting an interview, “By the way, we provided these questions to Mr. So-and-So in advance”?

      Totally weird.

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