“The tremendous challenge of narrative journalism about subjects that are underreported is, how do you make people care about something they think they already know about, or think they don't need to know about?” PeopleThinkingKnowsNeedsCareChallengesSubjectsJournalismNarrative Author:Sarah Stillman
“I think the daily challenge for a lot of beat reporters is, how do you get past the regurgitated sound bites of powerful people or evasion masters who are so used to this routine - the theatricality of press conferences and stage-managed interviews and teams of handlers?” PeopleThinkingPastUsedSoundChallengesPowerfulTeamStageMastersBeatsPressesInterviewsRoutineBitesReportersConferencesEvasionPress ConferencesSound BitesDaily Challenges Author:Sarah Stillman
“Often, my central challenge is figuring out how do I build trust, how do I acquaint people who've just endured some terrible event - losing their child to murder, say, or being sexually assaulted - with the bizarre and sometimes invasive nature of in-depth interviews that aren't just a quick list of ten questions?” PeopleChildrenSometimesChallengesEventsTerribleTenLosingMurderDepthListsInterviewsBizarreSexuallyTerrible Events Author:Sarah Stillman
“One thing I've discovered is that if you remain in contact with people, if you build longitudinal relationships, if you invest in sources who seem at first like they're uncomfortable or unwilling to talk, if you keep in touch with them, a year later that might yield something much more powerful.” PeopleIfsYearsFirstsSeemsMightPowerfulOne ThingSourceContactUncomfortableYieldUnwilling Author:Sarah Stillman
“I found it really astonishing that undocumented migrants were kidnapped so routinely, that it was such a commonplace part of the journey for people trying to reach the US, and that we hear almost nothing about it here.” PeopleTryingFoundJourneyAstonishingCommonplaceMigrantsKidnapped Author:Sarah Stillman
“When everyone's focused on the conventional parts of war - doing infantry imbeds or chasing IEDs - you look at the thing that seems not that interesting to people, like the circumstances of logistics workers cooking the troops' food or cleaning their latrines.” PeopleLooksWarSeemsInterestingCircumstancesCookingWorkersFocusedTroopsConventionalCleaningChasingArt Of WarLogisticsInfantry Author:Sarah Stillman
“For me, the part of reporting that's the most rewarding and energizing is just hearing directly from people whose voices haven't often been heard, or incorporated into mainstream media. That stuff is really, really gratifying, and so to realize that you could make a career of that part of it, that appealed to me.” PeopleStuffVoiceRealizingCareersHeardMediaHavensHearingMainstreamMainstream MediaEnergizing Author:Sarah Stillman
“People are sometimes losing their homes before being convicted of a crime, or their cash or their cars.” PeopleSometimesHomeCarCrimeLosingCash Author:Sarah Stillman
“I think when I was doing my very first interviews, I probably brought a notepad and did ask people my first fifteen questions while sitting in a Starbucks or something horrible like that. And I found that, oftentimes, the most important thing at the very first interview is just establishing a personal connection and developing some sort of rapport so that I can go back to them again, and then maybe again, and maybe again after that.” PeopleThinkingImportantHorribleRapport Author:Sarah Stillman
“It's been nice, actually, to keep in touch with a lot of the people and families that I've written about. Like with the kids I was just writing about from Guatemala, who survived being kidnapped and fleeing violence, it was nice to just sit down in their living room and play bingo with them, go to dinner with the family. And sometimes not thinking about it in such a mechanistic "I am now coming to report and get what I need" way, but just spending time, helps you see a more natural version of who they are too.” PeopleThinkingWritingSometimesHelpingKidsNaturalNiceViolenceLiving RoomSpending Time Author:Sarah Stillman
