Interviewing

The interviews the bedrock of all media journalism. It is a technique used to gather information from people who are involved in the news story or who can meaningfully comment on it.

The interview, when conducted well, reveals the truth of the story.

In community news reporting, we are not so concerned with the abstract notion of balance (getting a quote or grab from ‘both sides’), but in critically questioning no matter who we meet to reveal the truth of the matter.

There are many different styles of interviewing, from prompting to adversarial. It’s good to know and practice all of these techniques.

We will look at these techniques in more detail in a later Chapter, but here are some useful tips:

Prepare your questions in advance of meeting the person. Know what you are going to ask beforehand.
Be prepared for the unexpected. Listen carefully to the person’s answer before asking the next question, and follow that line of questioning.
When editing or writing the script, it’s most likely that your questions will not be included, so in the interview, make your questions clear, brief and complete.
Frame the questions in a way to avoid “yes” or ”no” answers? In other words, ask questions; do not make comments.
Always record the interview, whether for background briefing or for usable quotes or grabs.
Conduct the interview in a space where the interviewee can be clearly heard (minimal background noise).

For more on this, read the Community Media Training Organisation Manual on Interviewing.