Question for Journalism Majors?

Question

Why do some quotes use "[ ]" when without the word in brackets the sentance would make no sense? Example:
"What if [the president] had no kids at all?"
See what I mean?

Answer 1

The brackets in this situation are where the article's author put in a clarifying phrase about instead of the word. The actual person quoted may have said "What if HIS daughter had no kids at all?" In the context of the article, there may have been multiple people being mentioned, and the author feared the reader would have been confused as to who HE was. The author inserted the brackets, and replaced the word with the phrase to remove doubt.

Answer 2

I am not a journalism major, however, when the writer uses quotation marks it means that the exact words of the speaker are being used. When those exact words are taken out of context, as per your example, it would make little, if any sense, to use the exact quote. The words in the brackets are the authors words inserted into the quote, replacing the speakers words, to keep the meaning true to the original context.

Answer 3

Brackets are used as an explanatory reference. In your example the person being quoted was referring to the president but wasn't actually specific in their quote so the writer added that part for the reader's benefit. But that makes it a non-direct quote and so there is a need for the brackets. That way the reader knows the person being quoted didn't say "the president" but that was who they were referring to.

Brackets are also used when making corrections. For example you'll often see [sic]. That shows that information in the quotes is incorrect.