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Module 02 / Lesson 07 · Read, apply, check
Preserve what a person actually said and manage quote approval as a precise, traceable decision.
Store the exact passage, speaker, role, date and source location, such as a recording time marker or written response. Include the question that prompted the answer and nearby context when it changes meaning. Separate a verbatim quotation from a paraphrase and from proposed attributed wording. AI can help locate candidate passages, but the editor must compare them with the original. A transcript error in a name, number or negation can reverse the meaning even when the rest of the paragraph reads naturally.
Do not silently combine fragments from different answers into a new quotation. If removing filler or shortening a passage would alter meaning or tone, choose a shorter intact excerpt or paraphrase with accurate attribution. For agency-authored material, a spokesperson may approve newly drafted wording, but record it as an approved written statement rather than pretending it came from the interview. Preserve characteristic phrasing when it is clear and useful. The goal is a recognizable person making a specific point, not a generic executive slogan.
Provide the proposed quote, its surrounding paragraph, intended channel and attribution. Ask the speaker or authorized reviewer to confirm the exact wording and factual details by a clear date. Offer a focused correction route instead of inviting unlimited rewriting of the entire article. Keep the approved version and decision record together. If someone changes a substantive claim during approval, verify the new claim separately. Approval establishes permission and wording; it does not independently establish that every factual statement inside the quote is true.
Your agency can control approval procedures for its own drafts and client statements. An independent journalist may have different rules and may decline quote approval or prepublication review. Explain this distinction to the client before an interview. Prepare the spokesperson to be accurate in the conversation and clarify attribution arrangements in advance. Do not promise editorial control you do not possess. When reusing a quote later, check whether the existing permission, date and context still fit the new use.
Exact words, speaker, question, date and source location.
Compare the passage with the original and verify factual claims.
Show wording, context, attribution and intended use.
Retain the decision record and reassess context for a new use.
In a fictional interview, a founder says, “We stopped adding features for six weeks because the support queue was telling us something.” The agency keeps that clear sentence and checks its time marker. A longer answer contains a provisional customer-retention figure, so the editor excludes it until the finance owner confirms the measure. The approval request shows the quote, the explanatory paragraph and the planned client article. The founder corrects the pause to five weeks, and the editor checks the project record before accepting the change. The final file records the approved written correction and exact attribution. When another publication later requests an interview, the agency explains that the journalist controls their own reporting process rather than promising the same approval arrangement.
Another agency asks AI to make the founder sound visionary. It combines several answers into a dramatic quotation about industry leadership and sends only the isolated sentence for approval. The speaker clicks yes without seeing that the surrounding article implies a company-wide result. The quote is now authorized wording, but the agency has lost the original context and failed to verify the broader claim. A quick approval click did not repair the editorial weakness.
Authenticity does not mean preserving every hesitation, repetition or transcription error. It means preserving meaning, context and honest attribution. Use accurate paraphrase when an exact passage is unclear. Keep a visible record of any newly approved statement, and do not label it as a verbatim interview excerpt. Specific language and real decisions usually sound more credible than exaggerated polish.
Never invent a quotation and present it as something a person said. Follow the publication’s rules for quotation editing and approval. Permission to use one statement in one client article may not cover a different campaign, endorsement or sensitive context; check the actual scope before reuse.
Do this today · 30 minutes
Prepare a quote approval request for the founder’s product pause.
A document or spreadsheet and the illustrative case in this lesson. Use synthetic or already approved material for practice; no paid account or real client data is required.
Before: Exact words, speaker, question, date and source location.
After: Retain the decision record and reassess context for a new use.
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Test this worksheet on one bounded assignment. Record the reviewer’s findings, revise the method and assign the next review date.
Before you move on
AI combines two interview answers into a smoother quotation. The client likes the wording, but it was never spoken as one sentence. Your team wants to label it a verbatim interview quote. Which treatment preserves an honest evidence record?
Next lesson →Associated Press: newsroom standards for AI
PRSA: professional ethics resources
Lesson edition 1.0 · References reviewed 16 October 2026 · Practical exercise reviewed 16 October 2026. Examples are illustrative teaching scenarios.
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