11 Interviewing for print
Interviewing is the only way to get quotes. All stories need quotes; therefore, all stories need interviewing skills. Before you interview someone you need to do as much background research as possible. First, decide what it is you want to know from the interview:
• do you need a particular fact?
• do you want a date?
• do you need a phone number?
• do you need an expert name?
• do you want background?
• what statistics do you need?
Make a list of the research you need to carry out, then decide why you want to know this information:
• is it critical to your story?
• is it secondary?
• is it interesting but optional?
Rank your list of research items, least to most important, then work out how you will use the information:
• will you quote the information, the source or both?
• must you include the statistic or the date to make your story complete?
• will you use the information to frame interview questions?
Reporters usually don’t have the luxury of much time to do the research. For a quick deadline, use the phone. With more time, you might be able to go in person. Set a realistic deadline to start the story. Sometimes you get so involved in trying to get exactly the right people to interview, or to answer the questions you’ve decided need answering, that the story deadline gets close without anything actually being done. This is a fatal flaw. Set a realistic deadline after which you stop researching and gather the facts for the story, or change stories if the research is proving the story angle you’ve adopted to be too difficult. When you have done your research it is time to create the questions, remembering that every question will depend on the answer given to the previous question when you are doing the interview itself. However, it is still a wise precaution to create your own list of possible questions before you go to the interview; and indeed before you actually ring people to ask them to be interviewed.
Put the subject’s name in the middle of a piece of paper, and all around it put points learned through research plus every other source you can think of. All the facts. Put these into a kind of logical order. Start with easy questions, where the subject doesn’t need to think too deeply and can relax. Then work up to more substantial questions when there is a warm rapport. Circle each fact and link it separately with a line of thought, so you’ve got trains of thought. Ask the questions in your head. Note down, in as few words as possible, every query you have connected with the topic. Include solutions. When you ask a particular person to be interviewed, it is sometimes difficult to get their agreement. You have to convince the person to agree to an interview. Always be prepared for a ‘no’, but use psychology and charm and hope for a ‘yes’.
THE INTERVIEWEE
You have to decide who initially will be your best interview and why. You may want to interview someone because:
• their job is important
• they do something important
• they are charged with a big crime
• they know something or someone important
• they have watched something important happen
• something important has happened to them (accident victim etc.)
• they represent an important national trend (traveller caught at airport during typhoon; working couple who can’t buy a house because prices are too expensive etc.).
The type of person you will be looking for may be ordinary (a member of the general public), a specialist or a celebrity.
A good interviewee needs to be accessible, reliable, accountable and quotable. However, you need to be careful about the rent-a-quote politician who will say something about anything at the drop of a hat.
If a particular interviewee you really want won’t talk, you can still do the story; you just have to do it differently. You can write the story anyway without the quotes. You can write the story saying that you tried but couldn’t get a quote. You can convince the interviewee to talk. People refuse to be interviewed because of:
• time
• guilt
• anxiety
• protection (shielding someone)
• ignorance (doesn’t want to admit they don’t know)
• embarrassment
• privacy (doesn’t want to share a personal catastrophe with the public).
Obtaining the interview
You can sometimes be lucky and simply be in the right place for an interview at the right time. Sometimes you get the interview you want by focusing on what people want to talk about, rather than what they won’t discuss. Sometimes you get the person you want not by going through the Public Relations department but by managing to contact the newsmaker by yourself, perhaps at a place other than their work. People decide to be interviewed for various reasons. Sometimes it is out of a sense of pride and fairness. Others feel they must speak out because of something they feel is unjust. Others just like the attention, or feel they want to represent a particular point of view. Further reasons include a sense of professional or personal prestige, or a desire for community good. All of these can be used in an attempt to get someone to say something.
Meeting the interviewee
Arrive on time. In fact, try to arrive a few minutes early. There is nothing worse than arriving late and flustered, and not being cool, calm and collected.
Be in control. This is very important. You are the professional; expect the interviewee to realize that (even if this is your very first interview).
Act like a professional. This requires self-confidence. Self-confidence is a state of mind; it is also the product of being adequately prepared for the encounter and looking and feeling well. The first few minutes of any interview situation are vital; it is then that rapport can be achieved. Spend a few minutes warming up the interviewee – that’s not wasting time, but saving it. Get the interviewee calm and chatting to you in a relaxed manner before you start the interview proper. Be careful of body language and don’t appear to act in a threatening way. Friendliness is what achieves best results and opens up the thoughts of the interviewee.
INTERVIEW TECHNIQUES
Interviews are an exchange of information, opinion or experience from one person to another. Interviewing is different to a conversation; in an interview, the interviewer keeps control. First define exactly what you need, then plan the questions to get that information. Use open-ended questions that can’t be answered by a simple yes or no. Getting the interviewee to say yes can sometimes be difficult. Be warm, friendly, quiet. You’ll get your answer if you’re charming, and if you make the interviewee think he or she is the expert. Questions can range from cordial to antagonistic (sometimes all within the one interview). The type and approach you adopt depends on the information you want and the circumstances of the interview. Remember: the best interviewer gets the best quotes and the best story. There are two basic types of question:
• those from your research
• those that come up in the course of the interview by listening to answers.
Both are very important, and both will be used during the course of the interview.
1 Don’t write out your questions; listen and respond to the answers. You can, however, have trigger words (for example, photos – where?).
2 Don’t ask predictable questions; they give predictable answers (e.g. ‘How do you feel?’).
3 Avoid general questions; don’t ask ‘What’s the meaning of life?’ or ‘How would you solve the world’s problems?’ Be specific.
4 Don’t be shy to ask questions. That’s why you are there, so ask whatever you want to know.
Interviewers must
• listen
• observe
• enquire
• respond
• record.
During the interview, be in charge. Never let your subject take over. Demeanour and appearance are both important, because they determine the way your interviewee will react to you. The interviewee is probably feeling nervous; put him or her at ease.
Achieve a rapport, a sympathy, with interviewees so they will think of you as a listening friend to whom they can talk. Be a good listener. Give them time to think after you’ve asked a question. Listen for important and meaningful pauses when interviewees are merely considering the next words. Be able to differentiate between this kind of important pause in the conversation and a full stop. Be casual and chatty at the start; don’t get down to business straightaway. Set an agenda (but don’t give away the questions). Under no circumstances tell interviewees what precise questions you are going to ask, even though they will almost certainly want to know. Give them general guidelines, but not precise questions. That is your editorial right; don’t allow it to be taken away.
Good questions make the interviewee want to answer them. Ask a question that is clear and cannot be misinterpreted and asks precisely what you want the interviewee to answer. Focus on ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions. Remember:
• define terms
• consider the interviewee’s viewpoint
• ask questions the interviewee is qualified to answer
• separate yourself from criticism of the interviewee
• ask questions to which you know the answers
• if you don’t ask, you won’t get an answer
• ask follow-up questions to clarify
• restate the answer (if you aren’t sure, say something like are you saying that…)
• clarify generalizations (ask what evidence there is for calling two robberies a crime wave)
• translate jargon (ask for a definition or explanation)
• verify statistics and dates (ask after the interview where you can find a record of the statistical information given; you should check)
• determine sequence (did you get married before or after you became a politician?)
• ask for specific sources (if the interviewee can’t answer, ask who might know)
• follow up questions that expand
• try not to ask questions to which the answer is ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
• ask why do you say that?
• ask for specific examples
• ask for a chronology (what happened after that?)
• display your ignorance (then the interviewee will explain and give new information)
• repeat the question if it isn’t answered, either deliberately or unintentionally
• be critical and suspicious of what is said; don’t just believe everything.
THE INTERVIEW
During the interview:
• ask the easy questions first and save the difficult ones for later
• relax
• let the interviewee talk and don’t interrupt unless you have to
• display empathy and concentration
• listen
• be willing to show your ignorance
• avoid arrogance
• be selectively silent (an unfilled silence lets the interviewee collect new thoughts or expand on an idea).
The interviewee will expect you, the professional, to end the interview. Put away your notebook, but keep listening. Deny requests to preview the story. You keep editorial control. Say thank you.
Interviewing checklist
1 Know the subject:
• seek specific information
• research the subject
• list the question areas.
2 Know the person:
• know relevant biographical information
• know the person’s expertise regarding the subject matter.
3 Set up the interview:
• set the time (at the interviewee’s convenience), the length of time needed and possible return visits
• set the place (interviewee’s or neutral, whichever is more comfortable).
4 Discuss arrangements:
• will you bring a tape recorder or just a notebook?
• will you bring a photographer or just a camera?
• will you let the interviewee check the accuracy of quotes?
5 When you arrive:
• control the seating arrangement if possible
• place the recorder at the best spot
• warm up the person briefly with small talk
• set the ground rules (put everything on-the-record and make everything attributable)
• use good interview techniques
• ask open-ended questions
• allow the person to think and to speak in his or her own time
• don’t be threatening in voice or manner
• control the flow but be flexible
• take good notes
• be unobtrusive
• be thorough
• use a tape recorder (check that it works, and note digital counter for important bits).
• ask if there’s anything the interviewee wants to add
• check facts – spellings, dates, statistics, quotes
• say you may ring again to recheck possible facts
• let interviewee know approximate publication date.
7 After the interview:
• organize your notes – immediately
• work out a proper lead
• write a coherent story
• then sub your story into better writing.
COMMON INTERVIEWING TRAPS
1 The source agrees to an interview but keeps postponing. It could be just a busy diary, but if it continues you should recognize that the source has no real intention of coming to the interview. Confront your source; be persistent without being unpleasant. Use charm to get what you want.
2 The source keeps wandering off the topic during the interview. Try putting your pen down. If that doesn’t work, wait for a pause and ask another question. If the source is giving you non-pertinent information and doing so in a long-winded manner, you may have to interrupt and steer the interview back onto the topic. Recognize that some sources try to tell you what they want you to know, not what they know you want. Your backgrounding should alert you to this.
3 During the interview the source says: Now this is off-the-record. Immediately hold up your hand like a stop sign and reply: if if’s off-the-record, don’t tell me. If you allow a source to tell you something off-the-record, you can’t publish it. The source is probably relying on that. Giving a source off-the-record privileges compromises journalists and the free flow of news. Your first response should be no. You may find that the source willingly tells you the information anyway, on-the-record. If not, at the end of the interview ask your source if they want to tell you now, on-the-record.
4 After telling you something, the source says, ‘now that was off-the-record. You say, sorry, no it wasn’t. Then explain that when you set up an interview, all your sources are told that they are speaking for publication. Once the interview begins you must give your permission before a source can go off-the-record, and you never give it.
5 After the interview the source asks to see the story before you publish it. This is always a definite no. You don’t have time to show stories to sources, and you don’t need the hassle of being edited by a source (you have enough hassle being edited by an editor). Simply explain that your editor doesn’t allow you to do that (get your editor to make it a policy for you – it always is). However, if the story is highly complex or technical it is acceptable to ask the source to review your finished piece for accuracy before you publish it. This is your decision and is being done under your control. Sometimes you may say you’ll ring to just double-check a fact or quote. That’s different to giving them the whole story to change as they wish. You must always keep editorial control.
6 The source asks for a list of the questions that will be asked. The answer is always no. There are several reasons you can give: / dont prepare questions in advance … I ask questions arising out of what you say in your answers (which should always be true); It is not editorial policy to give a list of questions in advance. Sometimes the source will say: No questions, no interview. In this case, find someone else. It is, however, perfectly acceptable to give them a general idea of the kinds of questions that you might ask about a topic. That’s a pre-interview briefing, which is fine. Never give the actual questions. Apart from anything else, if you do, and then don’t ask a question at the interview or ask different ones, you’ll be accused of not telling the interviewee beforehand.
7 The source asks for money. The answer to that is sorry, we don’t do that kind of journalism. Never get into the situation where you have to pay for interviews. If someone wants to be paid for doing a story, you will always mistrust the motives behind speaking to you (if doing it simply for profit, interviewees might not be truthful). Remember, in most cases you are giving them free publicity, which is good for them, so you are doing them a favour by interviewing them. They should always do it for free.
8 You cant break the minder barrier. Often you are trying to get to a particular person for a quote for some facts, and you can’t get past the secretary/PR person/personal assistant/spouse etc. You know that, if only you could get to speak to the person, you’d get your quotes. It’s breaking through the minder barrier that’s the problem. Public figures can avoid an interviewer or journalist simply because someone else answers their phone. Some suggestions:
• Be charming. Cultivate the person shielding the source. Try to remember their first name, and treat them like a friend. Your aim is to get the buffer person to like you and say so to the boss, then you’ll get your story.
• Try to find a reason for the person to let you through. ‘I know everyone is calling you and you’re about to go out/go crazy/go into a meeting’ … I’m very sorry, but I promise if you give me two minutes of your time I won’t bother you again …I promise it really will only be two minutes.
• Call after normal working hours. Sometimes you can be lucky and the person, working late, will answer the phone.
• Ask for the person by name, or by a familiar nickname: Can I speak to James please? (they’ll think you’re a friend).
• Say: If s a personal call. Only tell the person who you are when you get through.
• Call the person at home. In casual conversation or through research, find out where the interviewee lives. A surprising number of important people are in the phone book.
• Find the interviewee in an informal situation (in a lift, at a car park, in the pub, in a restaurant) and ask for a short chat.
• Ask someone who knows the person to ask for you.
Finally, convince the interviewee that he or she is the most important person in the world, and you want to tell the world about how good he or she is.
FURTHER READING
Biani, S. (1992). Interviews that Work: A Practical Guide for Journalists. Wadsworth.
Clayton, J. (1994). Interviewing for Journalists. Piatkus Books.
Hennessy, B. (1997). Writing Feature Articles. Focal Press.
Keeble, R. (1998). The Newspaper Handbook. Routledge.