InterviewingTricks, tips, techniques

“Journalism is kind of like dating. You have to be yourself but less. When I interview someone, I become smaller than him. I slouch down, and sometimes I get a bad neck. I look at him and I listen. Intension is important too, because your intentions come through.

—Mike Sager, Esquire contributing writer

Be YourselfOr at least some version of your self

Face to Face

• Avoid email interviews

• Online research is helpful, but interviewing as many people as possible for a story will garner info/ideas unavailable online.

• Phone versus in-person?

Trust in an interview

• Particularly for sensitive interviews

• Trust that you will be honest, accurate

• “Act like a human being.”

Prep Work!

• Read up on the subject or person

• Ask the person you’ll be interviewing to send you any info ahead of time he or she wants you to know.

• Have questions ready to go

• Familiarize yourself with other articles on your topic/person

Requesting an interview

• Send an email that explains why you want the story and shows the subject you’re interested.

Dear Councilor X,

I am writing a story on the City Council’s decision to ban nude bicyclists. You spoke against this decision based on your history as a nude bicyclist. I’d love to hear more about this. Is there a convenient time this week for an interview?

Setting

• A phone interview deprives you of “color”—describe the person, what they look like, what they wear, the environment of their home or office. Or, if you’re in public, maybe the environment interacts with the subject.

Beneath a big tent hastily erected on a roof behind the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, a collection of modern gladiators gathers behind a portable stage, twenty-two broken noses and sets of cauliflower ears standing in a reverent semicircle around a familiar pug — the former bar bouncer, hotel bellhop, and personal fitness trainer who has, over the past decade, helped to turn the Ultimate Fighting Championship into a $1 billion business with fans across the globe.

—Meet Dana White, the King of Mixed Martial Arts, Esquire Magazine, by Mike Sager

“An assistant greets me and asks me to wait in the living room, which is suspended seemingly right over the crashing waves of the Pacific…after a few minutes, the assistant leads me up to the star’s bedroom. According otLawrence-Bullard, the bed originally belonged to NatachaRambova, who was the wife of Rudolph Valentino. —Cher profile by Krista Smith, Vanity Fair, December 2010

?

• The best way to have a spontaneous conversation is to have your questions prepared.

• Crowd-source!

Phrasing questions

• Open-ended questions are:

• Flexible

• Exploratory

• Can reveal more than the source realizes

• Closed-Ended questions are:

• Designed to pull specific information

• Can be yes or no

• May often be information you really need!

Compare

• How old are you?

• Do you plan to vote in November?

• How do you feel about turning 18 in today’s economy?

• What considerations are you weighing in the November election?

Accuracy

• Confusing questions can create confusing answers.

• Make sure you understand what the person is saying. Ask them to repeat if you don’t.

• Type up your notes right away while they are fresh in your mind. Look for great quotes, a possible lead, info you need to follow up on.

Note-taking

• Take notes even if you’re recording

• Have multiple writing utensils

• Look up when you’re writing

• Learn to write in a short-hand you can decipher

• Don’t be afraid to ask people to slow down

• Make them spell everything!

Follow-up questions

• If you are listening when you interview, you may hear things you need clarified. Ask those questions. Make the source explain.

• Ask for additional sources to talk to, additional information. This will lead to stronger stories and additional stories.

You’re in Charge

• Again, if you have what you need, ask if the subject has anything to add. Say, “thank you for your time.”

• Don’t let the source talk at you.

Print Tips

• Use memorable quotes for “direct quotation.”

• Don’t quote factual/expository information. “I am 18,” is not an interesting quote.

• Put punctuation within the quote marks.

• Correct grammar? Case by case.