Open Writing

I am a student on a journalism course at a well-known university on the outskirts of London. In order to work in British newspaper journalism it is a vital to learn law, a shorthand system called teeline and how government works at a local and national level.

As a consequence I seem to spend a lot of time squiggling symbols on bits of paper, reading about all the ways a reporter can get in trouble and learning government tax and spending. Sometimes I get the chance to go out and about to do a bit of reporting.

These months since Christmas have been the most interesting of my embryonic media career, simply because of the people I've interviewed. Journalism is a great excuse to get out of your comfort zone and chat to individuals from all walks of life.

Earlier this year I met two women who were unable to do paid work because of their disabilities and so gave as much time as they were able to volunteering. One had bipolar disorder and the other had been hospitalized by encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain.

They both spoke frankly to me about their health and how they found meaning in their lives through working for no financial reward.

Not long after that I interviewed a Christian priest and a psychic medium. In their different ways they both spoke about worlds beyond the one we can see with our own eyes. I also talked to a number of people about ghostly experiences, including a psychologist who said that the paranormal could be explained by cognitive illusions.

Then I went to interview a devout Muslim who speaks at prayer meetings and knows the Koran upside down and back to front. He completely surprised me by explaining that Muslims love Jesus as a messenger from Allah. They simply pay more attention to the Prophet Mohammad because they believe that he was Allah's final messenger.

I thought I knew a little bit about Islam but I certainly didn't know that!

You could say that practicing journalism in the field for the first time in my life has opened my eyes to a whole world of people I would never have met otherwise. At the same time, it has made me more aware of the heavy responsibility that journalists must face if they are to be honest and do their jobs properly.

Good note taking methods are absolutely vital. If you can't get words down accurately with a tape recorder or a good shorthand system, you have to be extremely careful. If an interview is badly written up it can ruin the reputations of both the reporter and the interviewee.

When you are writing your article you can't use everything the interviewee said, so it's normal to pick the most interesting quotes that seem to tell the story best. But be careful! Sometimes when quotes are taken out of context their meanings can be misinterpreted.

Legally, you might be able to get away with it, but can you live with yourself?

If you like the people you interview then representing them in the most accurate way becomes so important that it's positively nerve-racking. My problem is that I like everybody.

One thing that always worries me is when interviewees make statements that they might regret later because they are too personal.

Between you, me and the Internet, I have sometimes put my pen down or simply cut something out when I've found myself in that situation.

This in many ways makes me a bad journalist. I should be using my pen as a mediator between interviewees and the world, not filtering out the facts. If somebody wants to share something very private with me, then who am I to censor him or her?

I know journalists who say: "Well, they did make that statement, so they can't complain when it ends up in print."

I say: "But they said it because they were excited about being interviewed and they trusted me. Maybe they let their tongues run away with them. Maybe they'll regret it tomorrow."

The journalists say: "Don't worry so much. Some people will do anything to get in the paper. Stop fussing."

I originally trained as a historian and I often think how much easier that was compared to journalism. History does matter and it can cause hurt among the living when the facts are misrepresented, but historians are largely free of the moral responsibility faced by journalists.

If I write about things that are private to Henry VIII, the great Tudor king won't be reading my words and wishing that the ground would swallow him up the next morning.

As a historian I can go over the private lives and thoughts of a thousand people and it won't matter a drop because they are all dead.

As a journalist I could, by reporting everything that people say to me, cause a great deal of shame, embarrassment and pain.

I don't like that. I don't like that at all.