3.4: Art of Clarity - More about Quotes

The previous Art of Clarity section (2.5: Art of Clarity - Paragraphs) taught that quotes in media writing should be placed in separate paragraphs that include attribution. This helps readers to recognize that the narrative has shifted from the voice of the media writer to the voice of the interviewee.

This practice also keeps the narrative flowing and gives media writers a chance to pack emotional punches into narratives that might otherwise be dry.

Using quotes

Some of the emotional depth that exists in literature is lost in media writing, which prioritizes presenting information as clearly and succinctly as possible. Knowing how to add powerful quotes from interviewees in news stories, from organizational representatives in public relations news releases, and from invented characters or celebrity endorsers in advertising copy is an art form. The chance to select and incorporate quotes offers media writers an outlet for creativity and some flexibility where they may otherwise be limited in what they can write.

This section covers types of quotes and how they might be incorporated into your writing. For our purposes, paraphrasing is included in this section. Paraphrased statements are not quotations, but they include information from interviewees. They require attribution and can be incorporated creatively in your writing.

Examples

There are three categories of quotes including direct quotes, partial quotes, and indirect quotes. The next section covers how quotes may be used and how to use punctuation when adding them to media content.

1. Direct quotes

Direct quotes include the exact words of the person being quoted and are set apart using quotation marks. The one caveat to using an interviewee's exact words is that it is customary to delete "Umm..." "Omm..." "Ahhh..." and other unnecessary words that do not carry meaning when writing out the quote. For the sake of the reader, writer, and the person being quoted, this is standard practice. Media writing students should not be anxious about cleaning up quotes in limited ways.

What they should focus on is whether cleaning up a quote changes the meaning of the quote in any way. This is not allowed. It goes against the ethical principle of truth telling, and changing the meaning or leaving out important context when quoting someone is the surest way to get an angry email, phone call, or even lawsuit, potentially. When in doubt about trimming words from a quote, ask your editor.

When formatting direct quotes, attribution can be placed before or after the quote. Writers should select where to place the attribution based on what they want to emphasize, the speaker or what was said. Pay close attention to the placement of quotation marks and other punctuation marks. One of the most common errors for students in basic media writing courses is using incorrect punctuation.

These simple examples demonstrate correct punctuation usage.

Attribution before the quote: Professor Jones said, "You should turn in the assignment before Friday."
Attribution after the quote: "You should turn the assignment in before Friday," Professor Jones said.

Do not format attribution in the passive voice, e.g. "said Jones." This construction is awkward.

In newswriting, the only word that should be used in attribution of a direct quote is "said." Do not use "exclaimed," "complained," "moaned," "groaned," etc. These words are useful in literary writing to explain the tone of voice of the speaker, but in media writing they are considered superfluous. In newswriting in particular, readers might suggest that the writer is biased.

2. Partial quotes

A partial quote is a quote that does not comprise a complete sentence. Partial quotes should be used sparingly. Usually, a full-sentence direct quote is more appropriate if one is available. Partial quotes are helpful, however, for quoting long statements clearly and succinctly.

For example, sometimes government officials make long statements and save the key phrase for the end. They often do this to emphasize the final point, but media writers may not wish to include the complete sentence in their news story or news release. This is when the artful use of the partial quote is called for.

Partial quote example: Mayor Springer said he was discussing options with the Public Works Department about "repairs to Main Street and a lot of other projects that we hope to start soon."

3. Indirect quotes

Indirect quotes are paraphrased statements where attribution is necessary but it does not make sense to quote the language of the speaker or interviewee directly. The previous example combined a paraphrased summary of the first part of a long quote combined with a partial quote set off in proper punctuation. This is one way paraphrased comments are commonly used.

Another common use of paraphrasing comes when the writer can explain an interviewee's point more clearly or briefly than they can. When attributing paraphrased comments, media writers should simply use "said." The word is concise and non-judgmental.

Paraphrasing example: Jean Davis said her husband was a lifelong Orioles fan who attended dozens of games each year after he retired and who decked out the guest room in memorabilia.

Often when talking about events that occurred over long periods of time, interview subjects cannot help but use long, detailed sentences. Paraphrasing can help writers capture heartfelt meaning without having to include long quotes.

Generally, block quotes are never used in media writing, particularly not in newswriting or advertising copy. Rarely, a block quote may be used in a news release put out by a public relations firm or by the public affairs division of a government agency if the goal is to provide a lot of information without necessarily subjecting the organization to an interview.

Quotes can serve different functions in news stories. They can provide information, help readers connect with story subjects, and they can provide emotion and depth. The functions of quotes are covered in greater depth in the newswriting chapter. For this chapter, the goal is to learn to differentiate between types of quotes and to learn how to properly format them.

Demonstration

What follows is a made up list of questions and responses from a news conference with a public information officer (PIO) from the local police department. After the list of questions and responses are three examples of quotes pulled from the interview and presented as they might appear in a media publication. One is a direct quote, one is a partial quote, and one is an indirect quote. There are no perfect answers when selecting quotes, but there are good selections and poor selections.

The most important part of this example is the selected quotes and the explanation of why they were chosen to be direct, partial, or paraphrased.

The interview subject is Officer McBane, with the Anytown Police Department, APD. The story is that burglars hit a local Italian restaurant and stole thousands of dollars from the on-site safe.

Question: Can you tell us what happened?
Answer: At approximately 1 a.m. this morning, APD responded to a burglar alarm tripped at the Little Italy Italian restaurant here at 123 Main St. in Anytown. Two officers arrived on scene within seven minutes of the alert and found that the restaurant had been broken into, and the safe was open and empty. No one was in the restaurant at the time of the burglary, and so we can gladly say no one was hurt. The officers secured the scene, and we called in a detective to investigate.

Question: You said the safe was open. How much money was taken?
Answer: We spoke with the restaurant owner this morning, and they said they are not sure how burglars got into the safe because only employees have the combination key code and the safe was not broken, but about $15,000 was taken.

Question: Why was there that much cash in the safe?
Answer: The restaurant owner said that amount represents about three days' worth of cash receipts for the restaurant and bar. They were due to deposit the cash this morning, but obviously that's not gonna happen today.

Question: Do you have any suspects?
Answer: Surveillance video shows two white men entering the building just after midnight by breaking the glass doors at the front entryway. The restaurant closes at 8 p.m., and the owner tells us the crew usually leaves by 10:30 p.m. So we are looking for the two men. One is about 6 feet tall and was wearing jeans and a white or gray hooded sweatshirt and black running shoes. The other was shorter, about 5 feet 6 inches tall and wearing black sweatpants and a black hoodie with black shoes. We will share that video footage with media soon.

Selected direct quote: "No one was in the restaurant at the time of the burglary, and so we can gladly say no one was hurt," said Officer McBane, APD.

Selected partial quote: APD said the burglars got away with about $15,000, but it is a mystery how they got into the safe "because only employees have the combination key code, and the safe was not broken," said McBane.

Selected indirect quote: According to APD, there are two suspects who are both white men. One is about 6 feet tall and was wearing jeans and a white or gray hoodie while the other is 5 feet 6 inches tall and was wearing black sweatpants, a black hoodie, and black shoes. Surveillance video will be released when it is available.

AOC Activity 3

This activity requires you to select and properly format one direct quote, one partial quote, and one indirect quote. The scenario has been invented for instructional purposes.

Your task, to reiterate, is to select one complete sentence that would be useful as a direct quote, one phrase that would make for a good partial quote when combined with a bit of paraphrasing, and one indirect quote, which should be entirely paraphrased.

In each case, be careful not to change the meaning of what was said, not to remove essential context, and to think about what is most likely to interest readers. Be sure to use proper attribution and punctuation.

Each different type of quote should cover a different statement from the interview subject.

Your instructor may choose to enter these prompts into a homework assignment or have you copy and paste these into a text document to be turned in using your learning management system.

*In the following activity, instructors should consider reasonable selections as correct. Proper attribution and punctuation are perhaps more important at this stage than quote selection.

The interview subject is Fire Chief Blaise O'Connor with the Anytown Fire Department, AFD. The story is that a fire broke out overnight partially destroying the kitchen and office of Little Italy Italian restaurant located at 123 Main St. in Anytown. 

Question: Can you tell us what happened?
Answer: At approximately 1 a.m. this morning, AFD responded to a fire alarm tripped at 123 Main St., which is the Little Italy Italian restaurant. Engine 5 responded within seven minutes and found the back of the restaurant in flames. We were able to tap into the fire hydrant just out front here and limit the damage to the kitchen and office areas.

Question: Can you tell us how the fire started?
Answer: The official cause of the fire is pending an investigation by the fire marshal, but I can tell you the fire started in the office not the kitchen.

Question: Do you suspect arson?
Answer: As I said, the official cause of the fire is pending an investigation by the fire marshal. That is all I can say at this time.

Question: Can you estimate the amount of damage done to the building?
Answer: I am not an insurance adjustor, but given the fact that property values in this area have been rising and given the fact that this has been a popular spot for decades with locals and with people from the surrounding area, I would estimate the building's value at about $3 million. From previous experience, renovating even a fraction of a building like this might cost up to one-third of its worth, so I would estimate about $1 million in damages caused by this fire. Also, that's what the building's owner said to me about 15 minutes ago.