Reporting

how you record, gather material and conduct interviews

Reporting is how you record events, gather material in the field, and conduct interviews. It is where raw footage, audio, notes, and quotes come in. AI can transcribe recordings and help organize material, so the question is what it captures accurately, what it gets wrong, and how that affects what a source actually said.

Questions to explore

// use these as prompts in a workshop or on your own. There are no right answers.

How do you capture and organize material from interviews and the field right now?
Where do recordings, notes, or quotes most often get lost or mixed up?
Where could AI help with transcription or sorting large amounts of raw material?
How would you catch a transcription error that changes what a source meant to say?
What would you tell an interviewee about any AI tool used to record or process the conversation?

Expert voices

// notes from the journalists and AI experts who helped shape this kit

“AI is a fine spark for interview preparation, especially for someone you don't know well. But this work risks a race toward the generic: good questions surprise, and AI won't get you there.”

Paul McNally, Develop AI

Things to consider

A transcript can misquote a source, so check it against the recording before you rely on it.
Be open with interviewees about how their words are recorded and processed.
Raw material and original recordings are worth keeping, even after a tool has summarized them.

using this card

Pull Reporting when it is relevant and set it aside when it is not. Pair it with the other Journalism cards, lay them out on a table, and use the questions above to get everyone on the same page. Capture what you discuss on sticky notes or in a shared doc.