Can I use answers to questions asked by other interviewers?

[Doc Holliday]

Make sure you say you had an exclusive interview like a TV guy did once when it was just me and him interviewing Jerry Stackhouse. He held his camera and microphone; I asked all the questions.

This happened to me for years and I got sick of it. I finally just stopped asking questions for a while. It was pretty interesting what followed ... a lot of quiet, blank stares. Now I ask only the questions I absolutely have to ask or I wait for a chance that I can do my interview solo with nobody else recording. It's worked out well.

 

[Batman]

Maybe somebody already asked the question they were going to ask.

I don't know why this would bother you. Who cares?

I'd rather have someone sitting there doing nothing than someone asking a stupid question just because they feel obligated to ask one.

That does happen, especially in large postgame pressers, and I don't have a big problem with those. You might only get to ask one question anyway, so it'll probably be either so obvious someone else will ask it or so esoteric that no one else will care.

My bigger problem is when I've covered things like small college football and it's me and two other reporters there. There's that awkward silence at the beginning where everybody's unsure of who is going to start. And then there's awkward, prolonged silence between questions while one person gets caught up and no one else steps in. And then the process repeats through three or four more questions.
And on top of that, they'll often ask afterward, "Hey what did Coach Jones say about that third-and-20 call?"
Sharing quotes from those is one thing, but at least hold up your end and throw one out there. Don't make me do all of your job for you.

 

[boundforboston]

Make sure you say you had an exclusive interview like a TV guy did once when it was just me and him interviewing Jerry Stackhouse. He held his camera and microphone; I asked all the questions.

Why not make sure your recording device is in his shot?

 

[hondo]

As a sort of corollary to this issue, I hear tell of a certain columnist who demands other writers at his paper not use quotes from questions he asks at press conferences in their gamers, bars, etc., when they're all at the same PC. Thoughts?

 

[SnarkShark]

As a sort of corollary to this issue, I hear tell of a certain columnist who demands other writers at his paper not use quotes from questions he asks at press conferences in their gamers, bars, etc., when they're all at the same PC. Thoughts?

I can understand maybe getting together and making sure all the writers from the same publication aren't using the same quotes, but every quote from the questions he asks? That's childish.

 

[Ace]

As a sort of corollary to this issue, I hear tell of a certain columnist who demands other writers at his paper not use quotes from questions he asks at press conferences in their gamers, bars, etc., when they're all at the same PC. Thoughts?

That's fair if he's going to use them. When I was an SE and working with staffers at a big event, the biggest challenge is to keep people from stepping on each other's toes. You don't want the same quote in 3 stories.

 

[Batman]

That's fair if he's going to use them. When I was an SE and working with staffers at a big event, the biggest challenge is to keep people from stepping on each other's toes. You don't want the same quote in 3 stories.

You still see that sort of thing on AP stories for big events like the Super Bowl. They move eight stories, and five of them typically have some sort of overlap.

 

[hondo]

That's fair if he's going to use them. When I was an SE and working with staffers at a big event, the biggest challenge is to keep people from stepping on each other's toes. You don't want the same quote in 3 stories.

Yeah but in a lot of cases this guy supposedly doesn't use everything, then fails to tell the beat guys which quotes he didn't use.

 

[Ace]

Yeah but in a lot of cases this guy supposedly doesn't use everything, then fails to tell the beat guys which quotes he didn't use.

Yeah. That's just doing what's easiest for him and not caring about co-workers.

 

[Twirling Time]

Perhaps it's the a-hole in me, but at high school signings I will always grab the kid for an interview before the TV stations ask their droll queries.

The relevant questions, such as why a baseball kid signed juco to stay draft-eligible, never get asked by those guys, but if I ask it and they're rolling, they get the scoop of the year.

 

[MNgremlin]

Perhaps it's the a-hole in me, but at high school signings I will always grab the kid for an interview before the TV stations ask their droll queries.

One nice thing about where I'm at, no TV in the immediate area. Very rarely do they come out this way.

 

[Batman]

Perhaps it's the a-hole in me, but at high school signings I will always grab the kid for an interview before the TV stations ask their droll queries.

The relevant questions, such as why a baseball kid signed juco to stay draft-eligible, never get asked by those guys, but if I ask it and they're rolling, they get the scoop of the year.

Our local TV guys are pretty good, but during the big pack interviews (not the more formal sit-at-a-table press conferences) I'll still usually wait for them to finish up and then ask a few more questions.
It's a little bit of courtesy, a little bit of convenience, and a little bit of common sense. They'll ask a lot of the nuts and bolts questions, maybe a good one about strategy or a key play that can provide the normal sound bites you need for a basic gamer. They get what they need and clear out en masse. Then, if you need to, you slide in with some better questions (as well as some for deeper follow-up stories) about three seconds after the cameras cut off. You get the best of both worlds -- your own quotes from what's often a one-on-one interview and the space-filler quotes, all without wasting too much of anyone's time.