Developing your skills as an interviewer [6B11]

Your interviewee can be divided into three categories:

• Well-known personalities
• Ordinary people, not usually in news
• People speaking on behalf of organizations or firms

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Tips on interviewing:

• Avoid questions that produces a yes/no answer
• Ask questions that would leave to clear answers, which helps transitions into a story
  - such questions usually begin with "Who, What, Where, Why, How, When"
• LISTEN! Do not interrupt. Let the speaker finish answering
• Really think about the answers. If you can't understand then you will have trouble re-explaining it to the reader
• Think about that the reader wants to know
  - thinking of your intro helps you build questions

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Alert! Remember:

• Leave difficult questions to the end until everything you need is safely recorded.
• For an audio/video interview, you must go in hard and get strong quotes right from the start. This type of interview requires excessive editing. You want it to be powerful.
• "Multimedia journalists have to tread a fine line. The key is to gather a good dea of general information before you go into a formal, filmed or audio-taped interview."
• Check spellings or names and places, including pronunciations
• Exchange contact info just incase they want to contact you furthermore
• THANK THEM for their TIME.

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Echo Beach Rescue Reflection:

I thought the interview was well structured. The questions was well developed, enough for the speaker to tell their perspective, their view, and their story. It wasn't too vague where it left short answer but it also wasn't too specific in that kind of sense where the answer would end of brief as well. The opening question, first stating that "It must have been an real ordeal for the family," probably helped send signals of grief and emotions to the family, helping them know that we understand how tragic it was. This more than likely loosen them up knowing that we were sympathetic of the situation and we weren't just trying to get a story and not listen to how they felt. I felt like enough information was acquired during that interview to write a short piece or column.

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Class Handout: Interviewing Tips (via Misty) 

It's important to:

- Research your subject
- Listen: By listening it helps the interviewer to form additional follow-up questions. In addition it encourages the interviewee to feel comfortable, allowing them to give more info, since they feel as though the interviewer cares.
- Be prepared and have questions them ready.
- Environment: keep in mind of the location where the interview will be held. Its important to hold an interview in an non-controlled environment, while being mindful of possible different styles. For
example if the interviewee is an intimidating persona, then hold the interview in a neutral environment.
-Practice Non-Judgement: make sure not to card-stock to avoid propaganda. Best to avoid biases.
-Have questions ready, actively listen to pose follow-up question.
-Pose open-ended questions, to get a more elaborate response. This helps to get more of the story.
-Allow room for silence, this motivates the interviewee to filled the void by speaking more.

The more comfortable the interviewee, the more likely they are to open up.