3.2: Interviewing

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Reporter at a crime scene. (Pexelx free-to-use license; Cottonbro)

Interviewing is such an essential part of information gathering that several books have been written on this topic alone. Most texts include some version of the following set of essential practices for conducting media interviews. This list applies primarily to journalism students, but every media writing student needs to know how to conduct a professional information-seeking interview.

Tips for conducting professional media interviews:

• First, the interviewer must research the topic and the person they intend to interview.
• Interviewers should prepare a list of questions but not feel stuck to the list.
• Treat interviews like a conversation, neither too friendly nor too formal.
• Keep your opinions out of your questions.
• Save potentially contentious topics for the end.
• Be respectful of interview subjects and their time.
• If you are working with a partner or partners holding gear, such as a camera or boom microphone, be conscientious of their potential discomfort.

If you are well prepared and focused, a media interview will usually take no more than 5-10 minutes. For in-depth reports or projects, more time may be needed. This should be planned ahead of time with the interviewee.

Pre-interview research

It is essential to know what you can about a topic or event before conducting an interview. Use the information in the previous section to work to establish a basic understanding of the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of the news story, product, or topic to be discussed. Only after you make note of what you have can you get a sense of which elements you need to know more about.

The purpose of conducting pre-interview research is not to try to know more about the topic than your interview subjects. Interviewing someone assumes that they can provide information or perspective that you lack.

The purpose of conducting research before interviewing someone is so that you can plan for the interview and write down questions or talking points that get at what you need to know without taking too much of the subject's time.

An aspect of pre-interview research that is often overlooked is the initial conversation. In the process of requesting an interview, you should get a sense of what aspects of the topic the interview subject can cover, how knowledgeable they seem to be about the topic, and whether their understanding of the basic information is the same as what you have already gathered.

For phone or video chat interviews, the pre-interview might immediately precede a more formal interview. 

For in-person interviews, the pre-interview conversation might happen briefly on the same day as the interview or it may be done weeks in advance. It depends on the scope of the project and how central to the project the interview is.

In most journalism jobs, the reporter will usually contact a potential interviewee by phone, email, text, or direct message before meeting them in person. In that phone call, the initial conversation should be brief, but it should be approached with professionalism as the start of a formal process.

In a preliminary phone call, interviewer and interviewee should come to an understanding about the nature and scope as well as time and place for the interview.

Most often, mass media professionals conduct interviews for three reasons:

1. The interview subject has basic information they cannot find elsewhere;
2. The interview subject can add to their depth of understanding; or,
3. The interviewee can provide emotional context that might help an audience understand the story better on an emotional level.

Many times the same interviewee can help you address multiple aspects of the subject matter.

For example, the organizer of a charity fundraiser can tell you how much money they raised for their cause as well as whether this amount was what they expected, was disappointingly low, or was delightfully more than they had hoped. They can tell you more about whom or what the funds are for, and they can tell you when the funds will be transferred to the individual or charity in need.

Looking deeper

From professional experience, it is clear that the 5 Ws + H can be different for different individuals involved in a news story.

When interviewing people, it is almost always the case that they can contribute depth to our understanding of the general 5 Ws + H as well as their own unique Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How relative to their point of view.

For example, if you are interviewing people about a tornado that hit their city, you will not need to ask everyone you interview for general information. The established facts are that a tornado (WHAT) hit their city (WHERE) at a certain time of day (WHEN). It took a path through the city (WHERE), and it affected the people who live there (WHO).

Meteorologists can explain general concepts about the weather conditions that generate tornadoes (WHY and HOW), but there are also personal stories embedded in this larger narrative.

When the general 5 Ws + H are established, you can focus eyewitness interviews on the intervieweee's personal point of view.

You might ask: Who was in their home when the tornado hit? What did they see, hear, and feel? Where in their home did they take shelter and why? Were they prepared for it? Based on the time of day it hit, they might or might not have gotten warning.

You could ask questions that get at their personal "How" and "Why." For example: How did they respond when the tornado hit? How did they get everyone in the home to a safe place, or if they were not able to, why not?

Questions that get at sensory perceptions of events can be tricky. Some people will simply refuse to relive the trauma of an emotional event, and the interviewer should not push them further into topics that are too difficult to discuss.

This is a matter of simple ethics and decency.

That said, interviewees should always be asked if they have something to add. Readers and viewers relate to sensory experiences. These descriptions can make events seem more real; however, audiences do not necessarily need to hear the cliché soundbite, "The tornado sounded like a freight train."

Let us collectively agree as professionals to find other ways of describing loud noises when possible.

To reiterate, information about individual sensory experiences can enhance our emotional understanding of an event, but each interviewee should be treated with the utmost respect. Interviewers should take "no" for an answer if someone would prefer not to talk about emotional aspects of their experiences.

Developing interview questions

In breaking news situations, interviewers are often chasing changing Whos and Whats and Wheres. The primary concern when covering breaking news is to establish these facts and verify them as much as humanly possible. Do not speculate, and do not invite interviewees to speculate, unless they have some particular expertise that can help an audience understand the situation.

When preparing for an interview outside of the breaking news context, a professional interviewer should develop a clear understanding of what parts of the 5 Ws + H they understand relatively well versus what they still need to know to complete that core list.

They should decide whom to interview based on their information needs. Once capable and willing interviewees are found, crafting questions is relatively straightforward.

• Look for the individual with the greatest depth of knowledge you can find who is also available within your time frame.
• Draw up a list of questions or discussion points on your mobile device or on paper. Make sure you cover the 5Ws + H with each person you interview. Having a list prepared will help ensure you do not forget an essential topic.
• Put the questions or talking points in an order that manages the tone of the interview. Start with general, non-invasive questions and work to more specific, more emotional topics later.
• Always leave room for the question: "Is there anything else you think people should know?" This hands control of the interview over to the interview subject, if only for a moment. it gives them a chance to discuss something essential that you might have missed. Sometimes interviewees assume media professionals have more information than they actually do. This gives the interviewee a chance to set the record straight or to point the story in a new, collaborative direction.  

Treat interviews like a conversation

The tornado story example comes from a breaking news situation, but most media interviews are not conducted during breaking news.

In more standard interview settings, the interviewer should make sure both the interviewee and interviewer are physically comfortable if possible. Comfortable people are more likely to have a fruitful conversation. It is almost always best to interview only one person at a time. Establishing a rapport and keeping an interview focused on the topics the interviewer needs to discuss in the order in which they need to address them is much more manageable in one-on-one settings.

Interviewers should keep their list of questions or talking points close at hand for the sake of reference but should not merely read their list of questions to the interviewee. This is a dead giveaway that the interviewer is inexperienced. Inexperienced interviewers should conduct practice interviews whenever they get the chance. Try out your questions on a loved one, a roommate, or a classmate to get a sense of how the conversation might go.

Listening during an interview is key to asking good follow-up questions. Follow-up questions can help uncover new details for a developing story that might change it substantially.

One of the most common mistakes in professional mass media interviewing is when an interviewer feels the need to demonstrate what they know and fails to get the interviewee to open up and share what they know and feel. One-sided conversations are not truly conversations. They are lectures or diatribes and should be avoided.

Conducting interviews is more art than science because no two interview subjects are the same, and the context for an interview can drastically shape the scope and tone.

Interviewers have to be aware of the intellectual and emotional state of the person they are interviewing. Interviewers should connect on both intellectual and emotional levels with interview subjects. This is not to say that the connections should be deep. Appearing as though the interviewer is trying to become friends with an interview subject can be off-putting, annoying, or even creepy.

That being said, professional interactions can be engaging on both intellectual and emotional levels if the interviewer is present, attentive, thoughtful, and reasonably caring depending on the circumstances of the interview.

Regarding bias and contentious topics

One of the best approaches to interviewing is to return to the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How of the core story before and after each interview. This will help the interviewer to keep their biases out of the conversation, and it will make sure subsequent interviews are conducted with the most up-to-date information in mind.

When it comes to avoiding bias in interviewing, the challenge for the interviewer is to keep a balance between being honest about your values and convictions without putting your thoughts and opinions at the forefront.

If the interviewee is not asking for your opinion, do not share it. If an interviewee does ask, be honest but not overbearing.

To reiterate, if you plan to address contentious topics with an interview subject, save those questions for the end of the interview. This gives you a chance to establish a rapport and gives you the best chance of getting an honest response from an individual, even if they may have something to hide.

Deciding how much to push a reticent interviewee about a controversial topic or behavior on their part is best handled on a case-by-case basis.

With practice, almost any media professional can become a more than adequate interviewer. Interviewing takes practice, and each interview is its own small research project, but interviewing is often the most exciting form of information gathering because it gives professionals a chance to truly learn something new and to connect with interviewees so that audiences may do the same.