Introduction to interviewing

Interview Techniques

• Preparing for interview• Steps and etiquette required for an interview• The types of questions• Identify potential pitfalls in interview

How difficult is it to conduct an interview?

• Interviewing is a skill that comes naturally, but it can slowly be nurtured

• Personalities make it easier to gather info and persuade people to offer info/open up

• Others may find it daunting• There are different styles of interviewing;

confrontational, persuasive…

Why conduct an interview?

• To get a quotable info on a subject• To clarify into already gathered• To learn more about a person’s habits, mannerisms and

appearance• To gather colourful anecdotal info on a subject• To gather background info on a person or subject• To develop a rapport with a contact

THINK ABOUT YOUR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES DURING AN INTERVIEW

Misconceptions

• Many think that interviewing is the only form of research for a news story

• Too often stories appear as ‘ONE SOURCE’ stories – based solely upon ONE INTERVIEW

• How else do you conduct your research?

* Among journalists, particularly in broadcsast media, TALENT refers to interviewee.

10 stages in an interview

1) Defining the purposes- you’ve already formulated general reasons why

you might want to conduct an interview, but what specific reasons can you formulate for conducting a specific interview with a specific talent?

- what’s the purpose? - clearly define your reason for interviewing

someone, or the result may be directionless with loads of mumbling and stumbling

Press release Govt must extend Cyclone Larry relief deadline- Read it- You are about to interview talent arising from

this news release. First you must formulate some reasons why they should be interviewed. Give 5 reasons…

Govt must extend Cyclone Larry relief deadlineQueensland’s farm lobby has called on the State and Federal Governments to extend the deadline for farmers to apply for assistance in the wake of Cyclone Larry.

Queensland Farmers Federation (QFF) President Gary Sansom said the 30 June deadline should be extended by a further three months to ensure all farmers had applied for assistance.

“There are farmers who have been so busy cleaning up their farms that they have not been able to go through the process of seeking assistance,” he said.

“It takes time to put lives back together again after the disaster like Larry, and to do the planning to make large financial commitments which could include loans of up to half a million dollars.

“Some officials have been critical of the slowness of farmers to apply for this assistance, but this simply doesn’t take into account the psychological toll that the Cyclone has had on producers who have had to cope with so much, including continuous rain, since the cyclone.

“The extension of this deadline is essential for the long term recovery of this region.

“Last month, QFF wrote to the Cyclone Larry Recovery Taskforce and State and Federal Ministers urging an extension for applications, and calling for changes to the disaster relief arrangements to improve the process of industry recovery.

“We’re very concerned that industry’s concerns have not been addressed and that scheduled meetings with State and Federal Ministers have been deferred.

“While the immediate response of Government was very positive to the cyclone, there needs to be recognition that the commitment to recovery has to be long term.

“Industry has called for more flexibility in the wages subsidy criteria and an extension from 13 to 36 weeks to help producers to employ workers during the recovery period when they will be without income due to crop damage.

“It also calls for fodder freight subsidy improvements for intensive animal industries on the Tablelands due to the failure of the maize and fodder crops. It also calls for a targeted exit payment to be added to the package for producers, particularly older farmers who choose to exit rather than rebuild.

QFF will continue to urge Governments to remain focused on the long term economic rebuilding of the rural industry in north Queensland.

Reasons…• To verify the info outlined in the press release• To speak to State and Federal Ministers or their

representatives to find out the reasons behind the alleged deferral of the scheduled meetings

• After gaining the government’s explanation to seek a follow-up response from Mr Sansom

• To speak to a farmer about the need for assistance• To speak to a representative from the community about the

effect, if any, the slowness of aid for farmers is having on the local economy

Before organising any interview, formulate a list of reasons to give yourself a rationale for conducting the interview and to give

itself some structure and context

2) Conducting a background research- Before an interview, first research the

background to the talent/subjects involved. - Don’t ask questions that may waste your time or

the talent’s Eg Where are you from? Instead, ask which part of London is he from? (if he says West London, you can ask leading questions like is this how he started gigging especially with the vast amount of opportunities?)

3) Requesting an interview appointment- Telephone the talent, arrange your interview appointment- Identify yourself, your role as a trainee journalist from HCTV News,

state the purpose of the interview, the subject and issues you’re covering

- Stress why talent should take part in interview. A reporter does not have a god-given right to an interview

- Remind talent that everything spoken is on the record unless specified otherwise

Interview etiquette*Be on time for the interview. Arrive early*Dress to suit the interview. What would you wear to interview a world famous parachutist while skydiving? Or if you’re seeing Obama?*Remind talent why it’s great for them to take part in the interview

4) Preliminary planning

• Plan the structure or skeleton of your interview• Write out detailed questions but need not necessarily

question talent. WHY?• An interview on personality profile will have a different

approach to that on a running political issue• Be careful not to allow your prep for an interview to

force you to from concrete views on the subject

• BE PREPRARED for off-the-cuff comments which may change the whole course of the interview

5) Meeting the respondent and conversational icebreakers- First few moments, you must establish a rapport with the talent- Before starting, confirm talent’s correct name spelling and the preferred

honorific- The success of an interview lies on an effective WARM UP period!- Small talk, the weather, news for the day etc- Even better – research will reveal talent’s interests and you could use that

if you share the same interests too- Body language – avoid sitting in high-backed chair behind a desk, putting

your hands behind your head, crossing your arms or legs, pointing gestures (shows aggression), looking at watch

- Use positive body language – sit at the same level as talent, nod head, smile (he’s probably even more nervous than you!), open palm gestures

6) Getting down to business- Questioning technique ;

open, close, probe

a) Open questions- Do not require a specific answer- They’re normally the main

sources of quotes in the journalistic interview

- Give talents freedom to move- Eg How do you see this

situation? What do you feel are the underlying causes? Could you tell me what happened? How do you think the accident happened?

Attributes of open questions- Give talents more control over the

interview, making them feel more comfortable

- Allow talents to express personal views, more scope for colourful quotes

- Allow unanticipated info to be given

- Leave room for the interview to branch out from the set agenda

b) Closed questions- Closed questions require

a specific answer- They narrow the range of

possible answers and focus on a particular point

- Types: yes/no questions, selection questions, identification questions

- Eg Did you actually see the accident? About what time did it happen? What was the driver wearing? How old are you?

Intended to:- Gather specific info- Guide the discussion towards a

specific area- Help eliminate any

misunderstandings of what answer is required

- Negatives – can be seen as threatening, cuts short the interview because the talent feels that he’s being cross-examined rather than making a meaningful contribution

• As mentioned earlier, interviews should start with a preliminary ritual of checking the correct spellings of names, honorifics and titles

• This would normally be a series of……. questions?

• Eg How do you spell your name?

c) Probe questions- Either open or closed questions which ask

for more info or a more complete explanation of what has just been

- Also known as clarification/probe ques- Used to help journos gain a full picture- Clarification: What exactly do you mean?- Justification: Why do you say that?

(assertions should not be allowed to stand alone without justification. Best quotes is when talent is giving reasons for a statement)

- Relevance : Why are you telling me this now? (To be aware of what direction the interview is taking)

- Exemplification: Could you give me an example

- Extension: And then what happened?- Accuracy: Can you be more precise about

the time of the accident?

Purposes- Promote the gathering of

full info- Help prevent

misunderstandings- Clarify points that have

been made- Show the reporter’s interest

in what has been said

7) Establishing easy rapport- Control the interview and still let the talent do the talking- Conduct face to face interview for better rapport. Although

interviews can be conducted through phone these days due to tight deadlines

- A good interviewer is a good listener- Don’t argue with the talent- Silence can be golden… to keep the talent talking- Start off with ego-massaging questions and cover subjects you

know about the talent. These are soft questions

8) Now drop the BOMB- News: Something that upsets someone,

somewhere- At least ask one sensitive or embarrassing

question - Be a devil’s advocate- Use this technique to cover a difficult area but

retain a sense of impartiality as a journo Eg Some people say you are really not suited to this position. They claim that you are too aggressive. How do you respond to such criticism?

- Make sure it’s painless and don’t alienate your talent

9)Recovering- Every difficult question needs a

debriefing or a wind-down period.- After asking the sensitive question,

DO NOT END THE INTERVIEW on a negative note

- Re-establish the rapport before concluding

10) Concluding- Always ask at the end: Is there

anything you would like to add/ expand upon/ mention that we haven’t discussed?

End on a

HIGH!!!!

Kick-off the interview with a BANG!

• Shake hands• Greet, intro yourself, where

from, what are you doing• General comments/

compliments• What sort of questions will you

ask?• The first question should be an

open question, preferably allowing the talent to speak on a subject that they’re intimately familiar with

• Vital to listen to answers and prepare to depart from your predetermined course of questioning

What’s wrong with this?Q: What are your views on the future of

mankind?A: Why should I care? I have just swallowed

rat poison. I’ll be dead in 20 seconds. Q: Uh huh. Okay. I’d like to ask about your

hobbies – do you do any sports?

Time management and termination skills• Journos work to deadlines. Your talents

however, might not have such constraints. • How do you stop an interview?- Set explicit time limits and stick to them- Withdraw non-verbal reinforcement – stop

nodding your head- Use closed questions without probe/clarification- Praise – will follow up – thanks! Eg That’s all

great info. Thanks so much for your time and fitting me into your busy schedule. It’ll be published next week and I’ll let you know when it’s out.

- Use non-verbal winding up signs, look at your watch, rise to leave

Note-taking / recording

• Do both• Record and take notes at the same time• You might not have time to transcribe

everything that’s recorded• Also writing things down would allow you to

note things based on your senses – mannerisms, appearances, smell of room etc

Think of someone you’d like to interview!

• Create a scandal or talk about existing ones -JJ’s NBA hottie coz of scandal / vampire series producer/writer coz new movie’s coming out

• Draft INTERESTING questions (3 types) you would ask your talent!

• We don’t want info that has already been published!