Writing a profile with few quotes: LA Times digs into ‘tomato king’ Salyer
- P.J. Huffstutter
P.J. Huffstutter of the Los Angeles Times profiles Scott Salyer, the head of SK Foods who is accused of selling substandard tomato products at inflated prices. But unlike a typical bio piece, she tells his story as part of a family rooted in legal battles. She writes:
“For three generations, the Salyers fought one another in court to control multimillion-dollar corporations and, at its peak, oversaw a land empire three times the size of San Francisco. Yet the dynasty ultimately couldn’t withstand the infighting, particularly the falling-out between Scott and [his father] Fred.”
P.J. says she reviewed court documents to find sources, tracked people at their jobs, called ex-wives and sent handwritten letters.
“To write authoritatively, you have to talk to a lot of people,” she says.
Despite all of her interviews, there are few direct quotes in the story. Neither of the principals, Scott or Fred, would talk to her.
Today’s Tip: Be judicious in quotes, P.J. says.
“You want quotes to say something and not be used as a transition between the narrative,” she says.
A blog at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism refers to quotes as “bursts of life” that brighten a story, speed it along and draw the reader in.
P.J. could have relied solely on court documents, but she says sometimes documents aren’t 100 percent accurate. So she set out to confirm stories such as fights at board meetings with sources. She also called lawyers for Scott and Fred before publication to fact-check the piece. Though Scott’s lawyer repeatedly declined, Fred’s lawyer did agree.
