The story that never was
Negotiating with sources for the control of a story + readings on how we see the world and tell its stories.
However you found your way here, welcome! I’m Emily, and I write letters about how we seek and tell stories to make sense of a changing world and our place in it.
Being a journalist in Malaysia means that sources will often ask to read your draft before publication. In line with journalism ethics, I always say no, and they usually accept this on the strength of my previous work and after I assure them I’ll make sure to check the veracity of any facts or quotes I’m unsure about. The most I’ve ever done is to let them know which quotes I’m going to use.
Once, though, that wasn’t enough.
A conservationist did stick to their decision not to speak to me when I said I couldn’t share my draft with them—my editor was, of course, also adamant about this. And since that conservationist was the main source for a particular project we wanted to highlight, there ended up being no story. We approached another source on different talking points instead.