Get your facts straight

There is one thing that no journalist can ever control: someone will always question your story. The thing that I have come to realise is that everyone likes to think that they are in the know. When in actual fact they might not be. There might be some sort of contradiction within certain stories, relaying of stories and the facts within the story.You can never know for certain, 100% and without fail that someone is telling you the truth. People lie for various reasons. What you can do is make sure that you have yourself covered. Here are some tips that I think will help:

• Make sure you have written down your notes.
• ALWAYS try to record your interviews.
• Maintain a good relationship with your translator if you are using one. You never know when you might need them to corroborate your story.
• Check your facts, again and again and again... and again.
• When submitting stories, keep a copy of the original. Things change in the sub-editing process.

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