Chapter 14 really spells out a few of the questions I had regarding the proper way to go about interviewing someone. Chapter 14 starts off with the sentence “Thanks to email, instant messaging and cell phones, we’re connected 24/7 with potential sources. The internet is immensely useful for gathering, researching and filing on the go.” That sentence right there is extremely true. The internet has so much power within it on many different occasions and for many different reasons—especially for current events, the media and well, on a negative approach—gossip, rumors, etc.
This chapter (for me) came at an ideal time, because on Friday, I am planning on conducting my first few interviews for my news feature. As I read through this chapter, I came across some very interesting and worthy point about the process of interviewing. The section that talks about the proper form of questions to ask I thought was important. Since an interview is based on gathering information, questions are going to be asked—and a reporter needs to know how/which questions are the best ones and in what order, etc. As the chapter pointed out, it is extremely important for a journalist to get the correct information on a news tip or story. One little “mess up”, lie or exaggeration of a story can cause problems down the road.
Usually, at the end of an interview, I always ask “is anything I left out or anything further?” I feel that this is somewhat of an easy way to make sure I have received all and any important information that I may need for my story. I agree with Coleen when she says that she finds that she gets “good quotes at the end because the person isn't struggling to come up with an answer to the questioned asked.” I feel that is so true because the person feels less pressured to answer in a certain way. It really is true that certain questions asked during an interview can be very demanding for a person.
As I organize for an interview, the very first thing I do is create the list of people who are going to be beneficial to my topic/story and who can answer my questions best. Once I know for sure who I will be interviewing, I then will create my list of questions since I know for sure who exactly I will be interviewing. Sometimes, as the interview progresses, I will find myself ad-libbing in a few new questions that I feel may relate to an unexpected answer/response from my interviewee. I feel that it’s crucial for a journalist to think “on their feet” and be able to act fast should a situation like this occur.
To be honest, I have never officially done an interview other than face-to-face or over the phone, so I can’t really say what it is like to conduct an email interview. I truthfully hate over the phone interviews and feel that face-to-face are the best ways to go about interviewing someone. Just the thought of any other way, to me, sounds very impersonal and unrealistic. Again, relating this chapter to “the real world” as I intern at 7News, I frequently take a few minutes of my time while there, just to stop and actually see what goes into putting together their news and how they go about gathering it. From listening to the police scanners/browsing newspapers online to calling and confirming the stories to finally adding it to the script/prompter and getting it on the air. There is a lot of work that goes into making sure the stories are accurate and true.
It’s pretty cool to also see how professional reporters go about finding “the right people” to interview for certain stories. For example, I know that at 7News, when the reporter goes to a any story they are told to interview someone from both sides of opinion-for it, and against it, good kid/bad kid; whichever the case may be. A reporter needs to be fair and show different sides to the story to try and show that they are not reporting the story with their own opinion hidden within it.
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