One of my pet peeves as an editor, and I'm sure it would be for readers if they are aware of it, is quotes that aren't really quotes.
As writers, we always try to put quotes in our stories. It adds to the story by personalizing it.
So what do we do when we receive a government press release with quote already in it? We get them everyday. We often want to use the information in the press release and we may even want to use the quote. But, if we haven't talked to the person in the news release, should we quote them?
When we read a story in the newspaper, particularly if has the byline of the author, we assume that direct quotes in the story were told to the author of the story. Sadly, and I have the benefit of seeing government news releases, I see way too many stories with a byline using quotes pulled straight from press releases.
Writers who do this are not being honest with their readers. That is wrong.
Our policy here at the Free Press is to inform readers where we obtain our information. If a quote comes from a news release, we will say 'so-and-so said in a news release.' If someone gives us a prepared statement, we will say 'so-and-so said in a prepared statement."
If we're not honest with our readers, then we are not doing our jobs.