Never offer incentives. If incentives are offered in exchange for testimony, the information the witness provides may be considered untrustworthy. Examples of incentives include: Financial help, assistance with relocation or visa applications, and witness protection. FILMING Behave ethically. A thorough discussion of ethical conduct during interviews is beyond the scope of this guide; it is a complex subject and varies from country to country and culture to culture. The bottom line is that, once you decide to collect testimony, it’s essential to adhere to the highest ethical standards. Failure to do so will impact the reliability of the information collected, the witnesses’ credibility, your reputation, and the reputation of any organizations you work with. Take care of yourself. While it is often hard for a witness to retell the story of a human rights violation, these interviews can also be emotionally difficult for the interviewers and interpreters. Seek emotional support as needed. Archive it. Understanding that you can never be sure if an interview will be valuable, do your best to record only interviews that you plan to save and use to protect human rights. Interviewees often take risks to give testimony. Honor this to the extent you can, taking into account practical limitations such as safety and security considerations and digital storage space. FOR MORE INFORMATION To learn more about archiving video, see the “Activists’ Guide to Archiving Video” at archive.witness. org. 149 VIDEO AS EVIDENCE: FILMING PRELIMINARY INTERVIEWS V 1.0