Guardian Unlimited | Style guide | Quotes and references
Guardian Unlimited | Style guide | Q: "quotesTake care with direct speech: our readers should be confident that words appearing in quotation marks accurately represent the actual words uttered by the speaker, though ums and ahems can be removed and bad grammar improved. If you aren't sure of the exact wording, use indirect speech.
Where a lot of material has been left out, start off a new quote with 'He added: ... ', or signify this with an ellipsis.
Take particular care when extracting from printed material, for example a minister's resignation letter. And introduce the speaker from the beginning, or after the first sentence: it is confusing and frustrating to read several sentences or even paragraphs of a quote before finding out who is saying it.
From the editor:
If a reader reads something in direct quotation marks in the Guardian he/she is entitled to believe that the reporter can vouch directly for the accuracy of the quote.
Copying quotes out of other newspapers without any form of attribution is simply bad journalism, never mind legally risky. If, where there are no libel issues, you're going to repeat quotes, then always say where they came from. It won't be much help in a legal action, but at least the reader can evaluate the reliability of the source. A quote in the Sunday Sport may, who knows, count for less than one from the Wall Street Journal.
If we're taking quotes off the radio or television it is our general policy to include an attribution. This matters less if it is a pooled interview or news conference which happens to be covered by, say, the BBC or Sky. If the quote comes from an exclusive interview on a radio or TV programme (eg, Today, Channel 4 News or Newsnight) we should always include an attribution"
posted by Jen @ 8:06 am
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