How to effectively use quotations in news stories.

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Quotations

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Introduction
In his book, “The Craft of
Interviewing,” Tom Brady extols
quotes as “those brief, brilliant
bursts of life.” Ideally, that’s what
they are. Unfortunately, though,
many quotes are neither brief, nor
brilliant but lifeless and verbose
-- From AP Guide to News Writing,
Rene J. Cappon

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Campbell’s 10 quote tips
 1. Ordinarily, put attribution after a direct quote or
paraphrase.
 2. If the speaker is changing, put attribution first.
Paraphrase the second quote.
 3. Do not stack direct quotes.
 4. Ordinarily, place the noun or pronoun before
the verb in attribution.
 “Everything is under control,” the sheriff said.
 “I enjoy the challenge,” said Jack Berry, associate
dean for graduate studies.
 5. Place long titles after the name. Capitalize
short titles if used before name.

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Campbell’s 10 quote tips
 6. Set off quotes in separate paragraphs.
 7. Avoid quotes of more than 3-4 sentences.
 8. Break up longer quotes with a name. Only
break between sentences.
 Example: “The story is told through a lot of
flashbacks and from a lot of different angles,”
Lisa Kudrow said. “And except for the police and
me all of the characters are capable of lying.”
 9. Place commas, question marks(if part of
quote) and periods inside quotation marks
 10. Avoid double attribution
 The commissioner said he would move promptly
against what he called an “outrageous situation.”

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Tribune attribution
 Select a story. Read it and answer the
following questions on a sheet of paper.
 How many different verbs of attribution
did you find (beside said)?
 How were quotes punctuated.
 Try to identify examples of correct
applications of Campbell’s 10 quote
rules.

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When to quote?
 Too many writers seem to assume
that quotation marks, by
themselves, can transform a grunt
into a great fugue.
 Example: Smith said he accepted
the job because it represented a
“challenge.”

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When to quote?
 The senator said that “during the
period of time, which covered six
years, the committee held a total of
only six days of hearings.”
 The senator said the subcommittee
held only six days of hearings in as
many years.

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When to quote?
Use quotes for specific, vivid and
descriptive statements and to capture
inner feelings and personality.
“We can’t make ends meet,” said the 36-
year-old waitress and mother of three
who lives in the capital. “Everything’s
going up. We used to buy meat most
days, but that’s out of the question. We
have to line up for hours for sugar and
rice. And then we’re told we can’t have
wage increases.”
-- N.Y. Times

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When to quote?
“By the time they get in here, there’s
no more belligerence, no more
fight,” an attendant said. “They’re
really quite cooperative and polite
at this final stage. They just sit
there and die quietly.”
-- N.Y. Times

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Help wanted
[sometimes]
 A parenthetical insert may be used to
explain a technical word or to clarify a
pronoun reference.
 Right: “He said he had no idea why he
[Smith] didn’t show up for work with the
others.”
 Wrong: “I guess he [the driver] just hates
hitchhikers. They [highway motorists] do
it all the time. They swerve at you like
they are trying to hit you. This is the first
time one of us [referring to highway
tramps in general] every really got hit.”

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Said of trap
 “It’s rare. We don’t usually get that
many large petitions,” Richard
Markse, a railroad spokesman,
said of the 300 signatures Field
collected.
 Fields collected 300 signatures.
“It’s rare,” said Richard Markse, a
railroad spokesman. “We don’t
usually get that many large
petitions.”

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Haphazard attribution
 Make sure the reader knows who’s
speaking
 Don’t overattribute in running quotations
 Don’t disrupt the flow of the sentence
 “The charge is not,” the lawyer said,
“warranted in the slightest degree.”
 “This is the second time,” the angry
senator said, “the agency has violated its
own regulations.”

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Watch the context
“There may be occasions, crimes, when the
death penalty appears justified. At least
many people think so. I have sometimes
leaned that way myself, but to my mind,
large problems remain.
A longtime opponent of capital punishment
said today that on occasions “the death
penalty appears justified.”
“I have sometimes leaned that way myself,”
he added, though “large problems
always remain.”

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Watch the context
Reporter: Do you feel the verdict was
wrong, that it was a gross miscarriage of
justice?
Source: Well, yes.
Copy: He said he “felt that the verdict
wrong and a gross miscarriage of
justice.”
Correction: He said “yes” to a reporter’s
question whether he felt . . .

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Overextended
attribution
 Do not attribute wording and coloring
obviously different from the source’s
own.
 WASHINGTON – The nation’s
unemployment rate shot up from 6.2
percent to 7 percent in April, the highest
level in 2 years. It is a powerful sign that
the inflation-wracked economy is now
being squeezed by the rise of recession,
the government reported today.

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A Band-Aid may help
 You can fix up small grammatical
problems, dialect and non-
standard English.

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Expletive deleted
 Avoid casual profanity and
vulgarisms.
 Use obscenities, profanities,
vulgarities entry in AP Stylebook
as a guide.
 Also see nationalities and races
to handle ethnic slurs on page 169.

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Paraphrase to the
rescue
 Don’t unnecessarily embarrass a
source.
 “What is lacking is not indifference
and apathy” suggests Joseph
Guinn, vice president of the
association. “The general public
just doesn’t understand the
education value.”
 Guinn said that apathy and
indifference were not the problem.

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Overview
 Give it the overused test
 “It’s a great challenge.”
 “It sounded like a freight train (or
an atom bomb).”
 “I like people.”