When it comes to interviewing sources, one size doesn’t fit all.
When interviewing public figures, including politicians, journalists ask the hard questions, demand answers and set hard-and-fast rules about what’s on- or off-the-record.
But journalists should take greater care when interviewing private citizens, especially those who are suffering in some way and the survivors of traumatic events, by practicing trauma-informed journalism, which is acknowledging the impact of trauma on people and how an interview can create additional stress for them, and less-extractive reporting, which is about ethical ways that journalists can interview people who have experienced harm or are in some way suffering.
