e has
anything he would like brought out or developed. When the interview has
been granted freely, such a question is no more than a courtesy due the
prominent man. But only under extraordinary circumstances should a
reporter agree to submit his copy for criticism before publication. Many
a good story has had all the piquancy taken out of it by giving the one
interviewed an opportunity to change his mind or to see in cold print
just what he said,--a fact that accounts for so many repudiated
interviews. In nine cases out of ten the newspaper man has reported the
distinguished visitor exactly, but the write-up looks different from
what the speaker expected. Then he denies the whole thing, and the
reporter is made the scapegoat, because the man quoted is a public
personage and the reporter is not.

=183. Fairness in the Interview.=--The first aim of the interviewer,
however, must always be fairness, accuracy, and absence of personal
bias. No other journalistic tool can be so greatly abused or made so
unfair a weapon as the interview. One should make no attempt to color a
man's opinions as expressed in an interview, no matter how much one may
disagree, nor should one "editorialize" on those ideas. If the paper
cares to discuss their truth or saneness, it will entrust that matter to
the editorial writers. This caution does not mean that a writer may not
break into the paragraphs of quotation to explain the speaker's meaning
or to elaborate upon a possible effect of his position. Such
interruptions are regularly made and are entirely legitimate, and it
will be noted in the Bryan story on page 131 that most of that article
consists of such explanation and elaboration. If, however, the reporter
feels that the utterances of the speaker are such that they should not
go unchallenged, he should obtain and quote a reply from a local man of
prominence.

=184. Coherence and Proportion.=--Next to accuracy there should be kept
in view the intent to make the sequence and proportion of the ideas
logical, no matter in what order or at what length they may have been
given by the one interviewed. Often in conversation a man will give more
time to an idea than is its due, and often the most important part of an
interview will not be introduced until the last. Or, again, a person may
drift away from the immediate topic and not return to it for some
minutes. In all such cases it is the duty of the reporter to regroup and
develop the ideas so