There is a version of politeness in interviews that looks like good journalism but is not. It involves nodding, not interrupting, and writing down everything as if it were established fact. Subjects appreciate it. Editors do not.
The confusion between neutrality and passivity
Neutrality means not taking sides. Passivity means not asking hard questions. These are not the same thing, and conflating them produces stories that present one person's account as if it were a verified record.
Every news and information portal has dealt with corrections that trace back to an interview where a claim went unchallenged because the interviewer did not want to seem adversarial.
What happened when I got this wrong
Interviewed a business owner about a local dispute and wrote up their account without pressing on a specific timeline they described. A follow-up call with a second source revealed the timeline was off by several months, which changed the meaning of the story significantly.
How to push back without creating conflict
Phrases like help me understand how that fits with what I read elsewhere or can you walk me through that in more detail are not aggressive. They signal that you are paying attention and that accuracy matters to you.
Sources who are telling the truth welcome those questions. The ones who resist them are telling you something worth knowing.