Is it okay to ask reporters to read back to you the quotes they plan on using from your interview in the final story before it's been published? No, don't do this. I beg you it. Reporters hate this number one, number two, in many major media outlets, prestigious media outlets, they can be fired for doing that. This implies that they work for you. They are your little low level assistant, that they're not competent without you.

And it's giving you the control of the journalism and the media outlet. That's what happens in dictatorships. It's not what happens in most free democracies and other forms of government where there is a free media. So, look, I understand your desire to control the outcome. I want to control the messages and the quotes but the way to control it is to control what comes out of your mouth. Not to just say All sorts of stuff for an hour interview, have it all come back to you and you get to pick what you like.

That doesn't work most of the time. Now, there are exceptions. If it is a trade publication, and they want you to advertise, okay, they may give you that. But if you're really going to be good at the media, you have to be good in every kind of format, and not just ones that are trying to get something from you. So my recommendation, never asked a reporter to show you the quotes that can be used in advance it's bad form. And it's a sign of laziness on your part that you didn't really prepare for the interview in the first place.