{"id":656824,"date":"2013-05-08T14:37:04","date_gmt":"2013-05-08T18:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paidcontent.org\/?p=229087"},"modified":"2013-05-08T14:37:04","modified_gmt":"2013-05-08T18:37:04","slug":"open-interviews-and-gatekeepers-the-media-can-either-open-up-or-sources-can-go-direct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/656824","title":{"rendered":"Open interviews and gatekeepers: The media can either open up or sources can go direct"},"content":{"rendered":"

The way the media works — digital or otherwise — hasn’t changed all that much in some respects: journalists interview people about a topic and then select the quotes they want to use. Sometimes a reporter will cherry-pick an interview in a way that the source doesn’t like, but what can they do about it? As it turns out, they can do quite a bit about it now, thanks to the democratization of publishing<\/a>. And I think how media outlets choose to respond to this phenomenon says a lot about their commitment to “open journalism” or transparency.<\/p>\n

A recent blog post from startup founder Chad Whitacre re-awakened this debate: in a post on Medium, the publishing platform started by former Twitter CEO Evan Williams, the founder of Gittip described how he responded to an interview request from TechCrunch<\/a> about his company, which is building an online gift exchange. When Whitacre suggested that the reporter do an “open interview” via Google Hangouts that would be posted on YouTube, the TechCrunch writer declined.<\/p>\n

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“Me: If you\u2019re not comfortable with streaming\/posting the call, I will totally understand. In the future I\u2019ll be sure to let journalists know up front about my open call policy. \ud83d\ude42 Let me know one way or another \u2026<\/p>\n

TC: Yeh, good luck with that.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Open interviews add more value<\/h2>\n

\"journalism\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many — including Sam Biddle at Valleywag — seemed to see the startup founder’s request as bizarre and somewhat ridiculous<\/a>. But is it? We don’t see it as ridiculous when interviews are broadcast live, or when places like Reddit do the AMAs (Ask Me Anything) interviews. If anything, one could argue that they add value<\/a> because everyone can see the questions and answers, and decide for themselves which parts of the interview are the most important or relevant. Fact-checking in public can be better<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the interests of putting my money — or my ego — where my mouth is, I did my own open interview<\/a> with Whitacre via Google Hangout’s “On Air” feature, which both streams the recording and automatically posts it to YouTube.<\/p>\n