How to prepare for a Journalism Interview - Journalism notes PDF

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Here are journalism lecture notes regarding how to prepare for a journalism interview with Philip Cowan.
, Here are journalism lecture notes regarding how to prepare for a journalism interview with Philip Cowan.
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HOW TO PREPARE FOR A JOURNALISM INTERVIEW – Journalism notes 1. PREPARATION: Preparation usually takes much longer than the actual interview (standard formula is 1 hour of research for 10 min. interview). Try to find out as much as you can about the person you are interviewing or the topic you are going to discuss. Look on the Internet, the cuttings (previous articles on the subject), books, encyclopaedia. Talk to colleagues, friends and neighbours of the person you want to interview, your contacts, PRs, academics, experts.

Suppose your subject is “weather forecasting”: a big subject. You could spend weeks researching it, but don’t have time. So start with a quick look at an official meteorological web site. Find the name of some experts and call them: some might not be able to help, but others might act as a search engine on the subject, pointing you to the most knowledgeable experts, the most eccentric rainfall measurer in Iceland, a TV weather forecaster in Peru. Again at this point, be open; consider many different angles. Absorb everything, then pause. Turn yourself into your editor or readers. What would they want to know? Which questions address their interests, concerns? Ask yourself what hasn’t been covered, what questions hasn’t this person answered yet. Is there anything new and fresh you could ask. Know what you need to achieve with the interview, where you want to go. For example, Lynda Lee-Potter, a Daily Mail columnist, had to interview actress Diana Rigg, a notorious difficult interviewee. Lee-Potter read all the cuttings and saw there was one area Rigg had never talked about: her childhood. That is the angle she pursued. Got a great interview.

2. TYPES OF QUESTIONS: There are many different types of questions, which need to be used in different situations. Here are some examples:

•Closed questions: those which can be answered by “yes” or “no”. “Did you see the accident?” Usually not good in an interview unless you are on deadline and need to get some facts quickly. Good to establish essential statistics, names, job titles.

•Open questions: require more than a few words to answer. “What made you decide to study journalism?”

•Echo questions: Good when you feel the interviewee might like to say more. A: “I went absolutely ballistic.” PAUSE. Q: “You went absolutely ballistic?”

•Amplification questions: “Tell me more…; could you describe…, what happened next?”

•Clarification questions: Important to make sure you understand. Use them! “So what you are saying is…?” A: “I am now celibate.” Q: “Do you mean you won’t have sex or you are not married?”

•Assumptive questions: Beware of them. Q: “Are you married or single?” A: “Neither, I am divorced.” Don’t assume that your interviewee is Labour or Tory or heterosexual.

• Some useful questions: “What’s the best/worst?” “Who’s been the greatest influence in your life? “What do you like about your job?” Follow up with “What do you hate about it?” People love to have a good whinge. Discussing their hates can be enormously revealing.

•If they speak in jargon: “How would you explain that to a lay person?” •Avoid multiple questions: “Where were you born, how long did you live there and what were your parents doing?” Will confuse them. Ask one question at a time.

•Unless it is relevant for your piece, don’t ask about their weight and other taboos. (age is OK)

•If interviewing a celebrity or public figure, don’t ask questions such as are you married or how many films have you made. This would make you look like you haven’t bothered to do your homework.

•If a person is not very articulate, it is OK to put a good quote into their mouth by saying: “Would you say that….?”

•If you need to ask difficult/rude questions, warn them: “This might be difficult, offensive, but…”. Keep the questions simple and non-judgemental: “Will you explain why you are not doing X or X?’

•If the interviewee won’t answer a question, try a more oblique approach: -Suggest: A: “We’d rather not discuss the actual budget.” Q: “Would between £1 and £2 million be a safe bet?” -Plead: “Oh, come on, you can tell me…” -Show dissatisfaction: “I’d hoped you would give me something stronger.” “The editor will give me hell, if I don’t get something meatier…”

3. INTERVIEWS STYLES • Compare Jeremy Paxman’s interviewing style with Libby Purves’.

We each have our own instinctive interviewing style, but have to adapt it to the situation: You could see that Paxo, who is good at extracting facts, might not produce a good interview with an unhappy transsexual for Marie-Claire or a mother who has just lost her baby; just as the sympathetic, understanding one might not get far with Tony Blair.

4. DIFFICULT INTERVIEWEES • Politicians are slick and trained at dealing with the media. They are masters at avoiding and side-tracking questions. A. professor Peter Bull, from the dept. of psychology at the U. of Hull says that studies have shown that politicians reply to only 40% of questions asked by the media and 75% of those asked by members of the public.

B. Even the most experienced broadcasters have moments where their mind just goes blank and they suddenly realise they've forgotten who they are talking to and what the

last question was. In this audio clip, presenter Jonathan Dimbleby describes some of his worst moments and how he keeps himself from losing track of the interview....