Transcription for Journalists: Quotes, Verification and Source Care
· journalism, interviews, transcription
A transcript is a reporting aid, not a substitute for editorial judgement. Fast searching helps, but every publishable quote still needs careful verification.
A reliable workflow
Record only where appropriate, transcribe the authorised audio, and mark the passages relevant to your reporting question.
Do the first pass while the recording or idea is still easy to place in context. A transcript or dictated draft is most useful when it gives a human a faster, clearer place to start—not when it bypasses review.
What to capture
Store time, speaker context, direct quote, corroboration need and any agreed off-the-record boundary.
Keep the final document proportional to the task. A person who missed a meeting or needs to act on a note should be able to scan the outcome first and find the source when they need more detail.
Review before sharing
Check quotes against audio, preserve source terms, and follow your publication’s source-protection practices.
If the content contains personal, commercial, legal, financial, employment or health information, limit access to the people who need it and use the retention process that applies to your work.
Turn the draft into useful work
Once the review is complete, put the final note where the work happens: your project space, approved record system, email draft or task tracker. Keep the transcript as a source where appropriate, not as a substitute for a decision.
Create a transcript as a source-checking aid for authorised recordings.