Mike Abrams of The New York Times spoke with three members of the technical team – Chicken wing Tama deputy business editor and two reporters, Sheera Frenkel And Mike Isaac – on how they deal with “no comment” responses from companies.’
Pui-Wing, can you share how you work with reporters to consider outreach, especially for those who are known to turn reporters away or who default to set talking points?
CHICKEN WING TAM: We always want to reach out – even to people we don’t think will respond – because we don’t want to surprise anyone and we want to check the facts for accuracy. We want to give the subjects of our stories a fair opportunity to comment, add their perspective, and correct anything that might be wrong. It can make a real difference for readers to hear what the subjects of our reporting have to say. And you never know: people can always surprise you by calling back and offering advice on a problem.
The outreach strategy usually depends on the story. Sometimes it makes sense to contact us at the beginning of the report with an open question and an open invitation for an interview. Other times it makes more sense to reach out later in the reporting process when we have more information.
Can you share a moment when a call for comment changed your perspective on a story?
SHEERA FRENKEL: Some of the larger technology companies we deal with will offer to speak with us off the record or on background information to provide information or nuance about an issue we are reporting. These types of conversations are often a starting point for us to do more reporting. There was a moment last year when a tech company told me I was on the wrong track with a story. They kept using a very strange phrase about their company’s employment policies to steer me away, but I realized that the story was in what they avoided saying.
MIKE ISAAC: Pui-Wing has hammered the phrase “no surprises” into my head since we started working together ten years ago, and I think it’s something every journalist should internalize. Fair is fair, and everyone deserves a chance at commentary, especially when it appears in a publication with as large an audience as The Times.
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