How to professionally handle difficult people
Solutions for five common scenarios
One of the less visible parts of freelance journalism is managing difficult personalities. Most freelancers expect the challenge to be the reporting itself, but often the harder part is navigating sources, interviewees, editors, clients, and commissioners who create unnecessary friction.
And when you work for yourself, you don’t necessarily have the wisdom of a manager or senior colleague on hand in the office to help you through.
For the most part, people are not trying to intentionally drive you up the wall, but are just being disorganised, anxious, defensive, or simply inexperienced. The important skill is learning the difference between situations you can professionally manage and situations that will drain your time, energy, and confidence and you may want to walk away from.
So here are five common scenarios you may come across and the best way to manage them.
1. The interviewee who wants total control
A common challenge is the source who agrees to an interview but then starts trying to manage the reporting process itself. This can manifest in demanding quote approval or demands to see the article in advance, or repeatedly emailing after the interview trying to change or soften what they said.
In my experience this mostly comes from nervousness, especially with people unused to speaking with journalists, but occasionally it becomes an attempt to control the story entirely.
The best approach is to calmly establish boundaries early on. You can reassure them that accuracy matters and that factual corrections are always welcome, while also making clear that editorial independent is important.
Usually providing these clear expectations will sort things out. However, sometimes it does escalate. If a source starts putting pressure on, continually changes agreed terms, or tries to exert total editorial control, it is probably better to walk away. But communicate with the editor you are working for because it needs to be a joint decision.
2. The editor who sees everything as ‘urgent’
Most freelancers eventually encounter an editor who treats every request as an emergency. Deadlines constantly shift, rewrites arrive late at night, and messages are marked urgent after they’ve sat on your article for weeks.
It is easy to fall into the trap of matching that energy, dropping everything to prove you are reliable and easy to work with.
But the problem with that is the chaos can quickly become the expectation. For a more sustainable relationship it is better to remain professional without absorbing the panic yourself.
Respond clearly about what timeline is realistic and stick to it. Do not reply out of hours unless genuinely an emergency (I once had to deal with a last minute legal letter on a piece being published tomorrow - that is a real emergency).
Trying to be permanently available will lead to burn out. Far better to be reliable. An editor having one difficult week is understandable, but if this turns into a routine approach, it is worth reconsidering the relationship.
Your work-life balance is important and to be protected.
3. The source who turns hostile
Sometimes an interview can change tone very suddenly. Someone who up until that point had seemed quite open can become defensive or aggressive the moment difficult questions arise.
In the past (thankfully not often) I have been accused of bias, had my motives questioned, or been snapped at. It can feel really intimidating, especially for newer journalists worried about losing access or appearing inexperienced.
In the moment, knowing what to do can be tricky, especially if it was unexpected. The key is not to become defensive yourself and calmly explain why you’re asking the question.
Being calm can allow the conversation to get back on track. But there is also a limit to what you should tolerate. If an interview becomes abusive, discriminatory, or personally threatening, ending it is entirely reasonable.
4. The client who keeps moving the goalposts
Another freelance experience that I’m sure is familiar to many of you, is the commission that quietly grows beyond the original agreement. A commission that expands and, includes images or extra interviews, or multiple additional revisions. Individually, each request can seem small enough to accommodate, which is why scope creep often happens slowly.
The most effective way to manage this is through clarity and an agreed brief at the start. When new tasks appear, respond professionally that you are happy to do the extra work for an additional fee. Definitely keep emotions at bay even if you’re feeling harassed or stressed.
If a client repeatedly ignores boundaries or pressures you into unpaid labour through guilt or urgency, that is usually a sign to walk away and avoid future stress.
5. The non-paying publication
Late payment is one of the most frustrating realities of freelance journalism because it creates financial pressure while also consuming emotional energy.
Many freelancers have experienced the publication that suddenly stops responding to invoices, blames accounting delays, or disputes agreed rates after publication. The uncertainty can become exhausting. The sums involved are often not huge individually but matter collectively.
Keep emails concise, polite, and specific and make sure there’s a paper trail. Sometimes payment problems are administrative and eventually get resolved. Invoices can get lost in email inboxes.
Other times, they reveal a publication that routinely undervalues freelancers. If invoices become consistently late or chasing payment starts taking more time than the assignment itself, it is usually time to stop accepting work from that outlet. When deciding who I want to work for, speed of payment is always something I factor in.
One of the hardest lessons in freelancing is understanding that not every difficult situation can or should be fixed. Some problems are temporary, including a stressed editor, a nervous interviewee, or a chaotic news cycle. But others are structural and tend to repeat themselves no matter how professional you are.
We often talk about resilience, but another equally important skill is recognising when continuing a relationship will cost more than it returns. Deciding when it’s time to walk away is sometimes the most professional move you can make.
FFJ Journalism Work Experience and Mentorship Scheme
Our remote journalism work experience and mentoring scheme has reopened for the spring. This is your last week to register for a place on the link below. You’ll get to work (remotely) alongside experienced journalists covering a range of beats from health, politics, sport, travel, business and more!
There is a £10 administration scheme which covers the cost of running the scheme and holding the webinar briefing which is on Wednesday 27th May at 1pm. If you can’t attend the live briefing don’t worry as we will automatically send you a recording plus details of how to access the scheme after the briefing.
Triumph of the week
Getting some top speakers signed up for an event.
That feeling when
You wish you could help an interviewee more than you can.
We love to hear your feedback on everything we do, so feel free to drop us an email anytime at freelancingforjournalists@gmail.com
Bye for now!
