IV - Indirect Vs. Direct Quotes Lesson

Indirect vs. Direct Quotes Lesson

Introduction

When interviewing, writers concentrate on getting information they can use, and that should include quotes. There are three main reasons why you should use quotes in print journalism.  

  1. Accuracy-If you repeat the exact words which people themselves use, you will reduce the risk of misreporting what they say.
  2. Clarity-When we give a person's exact words, our readers can see both the ideas and the way they were presented.
  3. Reality-People often use lively language when they speak. Quotes allow you to put that lively language directly into your story.

While stories come alive through interesting quotations, a good journalist knows when to quote and when to paraphrase. Quotes should be used when someone says something unique, shares an opinion, or provides details needing direct quotes to seem credible. Paraphrasing is useful for general information.

The following examples are provided by an article in the Des Moines Register by Jeff Eckhoff.

Direct quotations give credit to the source and use the source’s exact words “with quotation marks like this.” Examples: “The fact that it took them nine house shows the level of reasonable doubt,” Frank said. “The jury does not have to decide whether they were exercising their First Amendment rights, but whether that exercise was reasonable,” Belcher said Monday. Indirect quotations give credit to the source, but they do not use the source’s exact words. Examples: The attorney for two Occupy Des Moines protesters said she most likely would appeal Friday’s guilty verdicts by a Polk County jury. Defense attorney Sally Frank said she planned an appeal based partly on what she saw as the unconstitutionality of a State Capitol permit process that failed to grant protesters a permit on a Sunday. Frank also objected to Belcher’s repeated urgings that the jury continue to deliberate. Writers can also combine an Indirect and Direct quotation. Examples: Goodner said Friday in an email that his side had been denied the use of witnesses from the previous case and that prosecutors “in general presented a much stronger case than they did the first time around.” The question of what’s reasonable rightly belongs to the jury, according to Belcher, because Iowa’s law defines trespassing as entering or remain on property” without justification.”

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