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| The
Role of Profiling; Interviewing Techniques;
Ethical Considerations; and Topic Presentation |
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a
workshop on the ethics and techniques of writing
profiles
by
Pallav Ranjan |
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Exercise
1: Learning to be Objective
| Part
1: |
Why
are you interested in preparing a profile?
Are you abusing your position, using
your skills for influence peddling?
Is the person who is being interviewed
abusing her/his relationship with you? |
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| Part
2: |
Think
about yourself and make notes on your
life, concentrate on the important landmarks
in your life: birth, education, important
friends, important incidents, etc. A
resume of sorts. |
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| Part
3: |
Think
about the influences that shaped/shape
your life (society, wars, friendships…). |
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| Part
4: |
Think
about your relevance to the world around
you: contribution, effect… (your
family and how you contribute, friends
and what you are for them, school). |
UNDERSTANDING
ETHICS
| 1. |
Regarding
Commitment
Are we committed to the subject? If
we are to prepare a profile, we have
to respect its existence. If someone
is to write on our life or work, what
do we expect? At the very least, the
willingness to the best work possible
under existing circumstances. It may
be all in a day’s work for us,
but for the subject profiled, particularly
if the subject is not a celebrity, it
means much. |
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| 2. |
Honesty
and balance
Self-analysis is important. Why are
we working on this profile? To win favors?
To be influential (I know this famous
person)? To show how awful the subject
is? If a profile is prepared to please,
obviously, the profile will read like
a commercial brochure. If we dislike
the subject at the outset, we create
unreasonably negative profiles. |
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| 3. |
Research
commitment
Background research work, understanding
of the subject’s role through
others who have greater insight (interviews,
conversations), the gaining of on-site
perspectives will require time and effort.
In some cases, prior experience and
knowledge of the fields in which the
subject is active comes in extremely
helpful. We are preparing a profile,
not a full-length biography. On average
three to seven days is required in this
area. |
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| 4. |
Personal
ego management
Where is our place in the subject’s
profile? Often, writers, particularly
interviewers, fail at their work because
their ego gets in the way. They want
to show their skills and their intelligence
and their knowledge. They may glorify
a subject to make it more interesting
(to win its favor) or vilify it to make
it dramatic. Our existence is important
but unless you are writing an opinion
piece, we should not be taking attention
away from the subject. |
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| 5. |
Subject
approval
Some writers like to show their work
to the subject or its representative
before making it accessible to a public.
Others feel that the subject may want
to manipulate the information. The choice
is up to you. The subject or its representatives
may or may not like the profile you
have created. Some may become hostile.
In litigious societies, you may even
be sued. Are you prepared for that? |
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COLLECTIBLES