Week4: Quotes and Attribution

Attribution

• Direct quotations

• Opinions

• Evaluates and assertions

• Secondhand statements

• Anything we can’t verify

→readers can make up their own minds about the credibility of the source

Attribution should appear as early as conveniently possible so that readers and listeners never have to guess who is speaking

Attribution may be placed at the beginning or end of a sentence, or at a natural break within it. 

Placing an Attribution

wherever you place it, the attribution should never interrupt a thought. 

In a question of more than one sentence, the attribution goes after the first sentence. 

When you switch speakers, the attribution should come at the beginning of the quotations to not confuse readers. 

Partial Quotations

If you quote part of a sentence, it should be separate from a complete sentence that is also being quoted (and paraphrased is possible)

Attribution: How to identify sources

the people you quote must be identified. 

→public and private officials: name and title

others: name and age or other identifying elements. name and qualification. 

Do not use an anonymous source without the approval of a senior editor or news director

Be prepared to disclose your source’s identity to your supervisors and, potentially the newsroom’s lawyer.

Use an anonymous source only if the info is essential. 

Tell your audience why you are quoting the source and why you are granting anonymity. 

Never let an anonymous source attack someone. 

Readers ———- News ————- Advertiser