Post by Tabetha on Sept 29, 2007 21:20:56 GMT -5
Keeping Safe
Periodically, a journalist (or grad student working on their sociology/psychology dissertation) may post a request seeking childfree people to interview for a book, article, story, thesis, tv program, documentary, etc.
Of course if you do choose to participate, keep in mind that all that glitters is not gold on the internet and scams abound.
Conversely, if you think you might be interested in replying and are considering contacting them, try Googling their name, e-mail address, etc. to make sure they're a verifiable in-house or freelance writer with a publishing track record and/or undeniable link to a reputable publication or news organization (ie. a producer for Anderson Cooper 360). FindArticles and Byliner are other great places for this purpose.
How to Reply if You Want to Participate
If the potential interviewer leaves an e-mail address or phone number on the board, please reply to their e-mail address (or call the number provided) and do not respond to them in public on the board or via PM (Personal Message) as they may never see it here.
Legitimate interviewers usually prefer to be contacted by e-mail or phone (at least for the initial reply), and as this may not be the only childfree website they have contacted looking for subjects, they may not have a chance to revisit the board or respond to your public reply.
In any case, once the story is written, writers will tend not to revisit the site since their editorial priorities will have changed, so your replies here will probably be missed.
NOTE: Whenever possible, both future and ongoing interview request threads posted on the board that contain the interviewer's contact information will be locked so that no one accidentally forgets and posts their personal information in the topic where the journalist is unlikely to read it.
Moving Forward: An Interview Tip
Once you've committed to the interview, having satisfied yourself that they are both legitimate and professional; a good rule of thumb to keep in mind is: never tell a journalist, etc. anything you wouldn't be comfortable reading on the front page of your local newspaper.
After You Contact the Interviewer
Keep in mind, there are many reasons why a journalist may not be able to respond back in a timely matter.
Once you reply to share your interest in participating, in some cases, you may not ever receive a reply in return, and therefore you will not end up being interviewed. If that happens, please remember not to take it personally.
Sometimes a story idea is killed by the editor who originally accepted it on spec or commissioned it and the journalist (freelance or in-house) has to move on to another story.
Sometimes a journalist posts his/her request on a variety of likely websites; thus the interview quota is quickly filled and the writer moves on to focus on the evolving story (as well as perhaps simultaneously lay the groundwork for other non-related stories).
Even if the writer replies with interest and follows up with an e-mail questionnaire for your response (a phone number that leads to your participation in a voice interview, etc.) you still might not ever hear back from the writer after the interview process is successfully over.
Once an article is written, it works its way through the editorial and fact checking process, proofreading, etc. In the meantime, the writer usually moves on to work on other stories.
For better or worse, a writer's first priorities are his/her editor and their stories. Often, providing followup and feedback to interview subjects falls by the wayside due to their various time commitments, so if that happens to you, it's not personal.