Legal Question
If I interview a subject, with recorder in plain sight, and get an anecdote or personal story from them, do I need them to sign a release to use the story in an article or book?
I think a lot would depend on the purpose and context of the interview. If it was an interview related to your quasi-journalism in the game industry, standard journalistic ethics apply. Unless the story was told to you off the record, you are free to use it.
If the interviewee had a reasonable expectation that the story would be kept confidential, that would be different. I mean, if he was telling you about serious mental health problems of a co-worker, his big mouth shouldn’t embarrass his co-worker. But with normal journalistic stuff and a clear recorder - an obvious signal that all this stuff was available for future use, I don’t think a release is necessary.
In academia, most universities require a release form for their ethics review process. This protects the university from litigation. But in many cases, especially if the anecdote or subject matter are painful for the interviewee, the name is fictionalized in the published version. I’m not sure what this implies for replicability of oral history research, but my wife has been doing this sort of stuff for years.
Troy
That said, it’s generally an excellent idea to ask an interview subject at the front of the conversation: “This is for my research purposes – do you object to being recorded and quoted?” They will answer no, and you’re ethically in the clear from then on.
This is SOP in the working-newspaper world.
Yes, I do “actual journalism” occasionally as well as the “quasi-journalism” I do in the game industry. I should have been much more specific:
If I interview a person, revealing beforehand that the interview is being recorded for the purpose of future publication (but not for a specific assignment), and through the course of this interview I get an anecdote or story that’s just too good to never use, do I need a signed written release? Or is a recorded verbal release adequate?
“This is SOP in the working-newspaper world.”
I see. But what if the story comes from the interview but is not used for a specific peice. Say a WWII anecdote or a childhood trauma. Can it be used in something else, years down the road? Say with the names changed or something like that?
Also, a related question, to what degree does a person own the story of something that happened to them?
Thanks in advance by the way.
Andrew,
Well, the polite thing to do is just ask the person who said it for permission. Unless you don’t care about burning a bridge later.
The recorded verbal release is adequate, both ethically and legally.
Also, a related question, to what degree does a person own the story of something that happened to them?
You might be able to argue that they “own” their specific rendition of the story… maybe. That’s kind of shaky legal ground, since they (presumably) haven’t actually copyrighted the story in question, and in this instance it would fall under fair use even if they had, since you are using it for the purpose of news reporting and you received specific permission to use the quote. You can’t copyright facts or ideas, so if Person A tells you a factual anecdote about themselves, it is not considered to be their intellectual property. If Person A asked you not to repeat the anecdote as a precursor to telling it, you would be ethically compelled to honor that request.
If you are really worried about it, you could always contact the person in question and offer to let them do a pre-publication review of your article. I’d run that by your editor first, though–many publications do not allow PPRs as a matter of policy.
Ok good, that’s jives with what I’ve read on the subject too. Now, my next question is: what if the anecdote obtained for something nonfiction is used in fiction? Say I get a good anecdote and I use and alter it, putting it in the mouth of a character I create?
Can Art Buchwald come after me then? ;-)
Heh. Writers of fiction do this sort of thing all the time. It’s called “observation.” As long as you change the story (and avoid specific references) enough to avoid slander, you are pretty much in the clear. There’s nothing wrong with asking before you use the story, however.
Hunter Thompson built a career on that technique.
I didn’t mean anything by that “quasi-journalism” crack…it’s just that everytime someone on this site compares game writing to journalism, hackles are raised. No offense was intended.
AFAIK you are free to use factual anecdotes in fictional settings. The more the characters are drawn differently from the real protagonists, the better, of course, but drawing from the real world to write a good story is as old as Robinson Crusoe.
Troy
Writers should take game journalism as seriously as they take any other form of journalism. The fact that you are an entertainment writer does not imply that you should adopt a looser standard of ethics, or put less effort into producing quality work. You are reporting on real people and events, and you get a real paycheck. You might not be getting rich, but you are making more than many journalists in more “serious” fields of news reporting make. So it’s a job that is worth taking seriously.
Don’t ever forget to ask permission, in some states recording a conversation without permission is not just unethical but illegal:!:
But what if you are a looser? Then is it o.k.?