Press Mention

Interviewing Vulnerable Sources Is Hard and Delicate Work. Here's How to Do It Well

NPR Public Editor
·
March 26, 2025

In a 2018 report for the American Press Institute, writer P. Kim Bui noted that two forms of empathy apply to journalism and can help journalists work with vulnerable sources. Cognitive empathy is used to help a reporter "understand people with opposing views and from different backgrounds." Behavioral empathy employs "verbal and nonverbal signals to show they're working to understand another person's feelings and ideas."

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