What is a Quote? Practical, Rhetorical, and Ethical Concerns for Journalists

Abstract

This article places the issue of quoting practices in journalism—widely debated in public and professional forums since the Masson-Malcolm (Masson v. New Yorker Magazine, 1991) dispute—into both practical and ethical contexts. It suggests that the multitude of ethical dilemmas facing journalists in the handling of quotations can be addressed by adapting Bok's (1979) test of publicity, which requires that journalists willingly imagine themselves under scrutiny. The spirit of the test asks journalists to embrace this central orienting rhetorical question: Is my behavior such that I'd be comfortable having all my audiences—interview subject, editor, public, and self— simultaneously monitor my choice(s), knowing that I might later be called upon to justify my actions.

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