After what happened last week, I was quite pleasantly surprised to get a very considerate sms from a reporter this morning, saying he was concerned about disrupting me and asking for a good time for him to contact me.
A few things done right:
- He knew who I was, definitely had read my blog and referenced things I said in context both on my blog, Twitter and at the IDC Conference.
- He had clear questions and obviously had done research on the topic.
- He did not seem to just want to hear a quotable soundbyte, but just asked questions and answered. (Note: It doesn’t matter to me if he got off the phone thinking I utterly wasted his 5 minutes and didn’t give him a good soundbye, the point is that doesn’t come across to me)
- He offered to send me a draft of what his phrasing of what I said would be via email
Again, it’s not that I’m some big shot in the space, it’s just the other party being nice and well…. a human. Not just someone digging for information or a soundbyte.
Unlike the previous two reporters, if this particular journalist asks me in future to recommend him a blogger in a different niche, say food or technology, I will definitely be more than happy to do so because I know he will treat that person with courtesy and respect that I think anyone should get.
Here’s hoping more journalists learn from these experiences.
Tags: idc conference, journalist blogger relations, journalists approaching bloggers
April 25, 2008 at 11:42 am
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April 27, 2008 at 2:09 pm
wow that’s really good journalistic etiquette. will definitely keep it in mind if and when i go back to journalism.
usually i try to send a draft of the article to the person i’ve been interviewing. but most times the editor is really strict with sending out draft articles.
April 28, 2008 at 1:15 am
@yin: yeah I definitely understand the “other” side of the coin like dealing with the bosses and all. As long as the approach beforehand is good, it solves a lot of things that come later i think!