2. Course Coverage
Heart of Journalism: Interviews
Interview tips and techniques
Put to practice A.K.A games!
The hidden mystery game
Name the 5W1H
3. Heart of Journalism
Why are interviews so important?
The finished product may be a piece of writing that
you craft, but the material is a result of the interview
you conduct!
And how you conduct the interview has more to do
with the outcome than anything
Think about it this way: Creating a story is sometimes
like solving a MYSTERY。We have to ask the right
questions.
4. Tips and Tricks
Get a Good Subject
Get Smart: Preparation is KEY
Craft your Questions:
5W1H
Closed Ended Questions
Double and Triple Barrel Questions
Be Attentive: Listen, listen and listen
Get your Facts Right
Be a Lab Rat: Review your work
5. Get a Good Subject
“The truth is that some people have a good story to tell on
a subject, and others don’t. Some people are naturally
talented at being interviewed, and others aren’t. If you
find a good interviewee, you won’t need all the other tips.”
– Star Zagosky, San Francisco Copy Writer
Don’t be afraid to ask around
Keep your eyes and ears peeled
6. Get Smart
“The value of doing a tremendous amount of research is
being able to ask questions very few others have done.
This alone sets you apart from the rest and can win you
not only a subject’s respect and attention, but material no
one else has ever gotten,”
– Caitlin Kelly, Author
Do your research and prepare questions beforehand
Come to the interviews on time
7. Craft your
Questions:5W1H
A good journalist uses their brain, eyes, ears, nose and mouth to
ask the five W’s and1H: who, what, when, where, why and how
Who: Tells WHO the article is about
What : Explains WHAT event is being covered
When: Tells WHEN the event happened
Where : Tells WHERE the event happened
Why: Explains WHY the event happened
How: Describe HOW the event happened
8. Craft your
Questions:5W1H
Q. Beginning with “how,” “what,” “why,” invites
explanation and encourage amplification
Ex:
Why did Princess Elsa flee the kingdom?
What caused Princess Elsa to wear gloves?
How did Snow White awake from her slumber?
5W1H are open-ended questions or green-light
questions and often allows the person interviewed to
tell more stories
9. Name the 5W1H
THE DAILY PROPHET: ENQUIRY AT THE MINISTRY
OF MAGIC (25 December 1992)
Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts
Office, was today fined fifty Galleons for bewitching a
Muggle car while attempting to evade a police raid in
London. (LEAD)
Answers:
Who: Arthur Weasley
What : Fined fifty Galleons
When: Today, 25 December 1992
Where : London
Why: For bewitching a Muggle’s car to evade a police raid
How: (further asking needed)
10. Name the 5W1H
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to
open in 2016
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33283158
Who: JK Rowling
What : Harry Potter is coming to
Broadway
When: Next Year
Where : London’s West End
Why: : Because Rowling received
countless approaches to turn her book
into a theatrical performance
How: Story will be produced by Sonia
Friedman and Colin Callender, and
British singer Imogen Heap will provide
the music
11. Close-ended Questions
Questions that require specific answers, such as “Yes,”
“No,” or “I am nine years old.”
Red-light questions:
good for getting specific facts, details or bits of information
Good for stopping interviews in their tracks or for stories that
go to long
Close-ended questions that answered with a “yes”
can help a shy interviewee get started and be more at east to
answer open-ended questions.
12. Double and Triple Barrel
Questions
Multiple questions at the same time
Example: Where are you from? What do you like about your hometown?
Anything that you dislike?
AVOID, AVOID, AVOID,AVOID,AVOID,AVOID,AVOID
Double-barreled questions give the subject a choice that allows
them to avoid the question they want to ignore and choose the less
difficult one.
To avoid double (triple) barrel questions, stick to the script and always
ask ONE question at a time. However if you do ask a double (triple)
barrel question, DON’T BE AFRIAD TO EDIT YOURELF.
13. Hidden Mystery Game
Rules of the game:
I'm going to tell you a story that has a hidden mystery in
it.
Everything about the story is ordinary, except one thing.
You have to ask me questions until you get me to tell you
the one unusual
Try to imagine the entire scene. It may help if you think
about questions that start with words like "who, when, or where.”
14. Be Attentive
“Silence opens the door to hearing dialogue, rare and valuable
in breaking stories”
--Brady Dennis of The Washington Post.
Open your ears, listen, then craft your questions
accordingly
Ability to listen is one of the most important skills in
journalism
People hate silence and rush to fill it. Ask your question.
Let them talk. If you have to, count to 10. Make eye
contact, smile, nod, but don’t speak. You’ll be amazed at
the riches that follow.
15. Get Your Facts Right
In Journalism, accuracy, accuracy, accuracy is crucial
Sometimes getting facts wrong can ruin your career, so make
sure to double check!
Always get names right, if you don’t know how it is spelled have
them spell it out.
Do not assume that because it is a common name, it might be
spelled the same way. Ex: Kitty or Kitti
When you do make a mistake, OWN UP to it and quickly fix it
16. Get Your Facts Right
Brian Williams has been
suspended without pay for six
months from his anchor chair
at NBC Nightly News after it
was revealed that he lied
about an incident that he said
happened in Iraq.
18. Get Your Facts Right
If your mom tell you she loves you, CHECK IT
OUT!
19. Be a Lab Rat
Record your interviews and transcribe your work
Ask yourself whether you ask more conversation
stoppers or starters? Do you forget to listen and step
into your subjects words before the could open up?
Etc.
Reviewing your work will teach you to be the best
interviewer you can be, study your success and your
failures and keep creating wonderful stories!
Editor's Notes
How do you walk up to strangers and ask them questions?
How do you use quotes effectively in a story?
GET SMART: Be prepared.
Craft your questions
Open ended questions best
Close ended questions are useful if you want to put people on the records
Avoid double and triple barrel questions
Listen up wait.
A. J. Liebling, a legendary writer for The New Yorker, landed an interview with notoriously tight-lipped jockey Willie Shoemaker. He opened with a single question: Why do you ride with one stirrup higher than the other? Impressed by Liebling’s knowledge, Shoemaker opened up.
Print out news paper sheet and the 5W1H sheet
Who: JK Rowling
What: Harry Potter is coming to Broadway
When: Next year
Where: London’s West End
Why: Because Rowling received countless approaches to turn her book into a theatrical performance
How: Story will be produced by Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender, and British singer Imogen Heap will provide the music
Good for stopping interviews in their tracks and wanting to put them on record
Did you lie to mom today?
Do you think mom’s hair looks like a beehive today?
Stick to the script, and always ask one question at a time. Don’t be afraid to edit yourself. More than once, I’ve stopped myself in the middle of a double-barreled question and said, “That’s a terrible question. Let me put it another way.”
The Hidden Mystery
As an interviewer, I have often found myself sure that I had stumbled on a significant story, but could not quite elicit it from the interviewee. For example, I once interviewed a 10-year-old student in front of her class, as an demonstration for them of how to interview.
The student was telling how she had left her home in the Caribbean some years before. The scene of her departure for the United States seemed important to me, but her description of it lacked any feeling or sense of story-line. Finally, I began to imagine the scene in detail. I asked her exactly where she was when she said goodbye to her family. I asked her what time of day it was.
Finally, I asked who was present. When she answered, I noticed she omitted her sister. When I asked, "Where was your sister," she told us: her sister had gone to school already, and she never got to say goodbye to her.
This was the significant part of the story, but I could only elicit it by carefully imagining every aspect of the entire scene. To help students develop this skill, I tell them:
I'm going to tell you a story that has a hidden mystery in it. Everything about the story is ordinary, except one thing. You have to ask me questions until you get me to tell you the one unusual Try to imagine the entire scene. It may help if you think about questions that start with words like "who, when, or where."
Then, I respond to their questions, gradually telling a story about a day when I had a tea party for some of my friends - and one of my friends was a pink rhinoceros. When they force me to describe the pink rhino, they have won the game. As usual, I comment on perceptive and helpful questions as they ask them.
Listen up.
The 1976 movie “All the President’s Men” focuses on two Washington Post reporters investigating corruption in the Nixon White House. At one point, Bob Woodward, played by Robert Redford, is on the phone with a Nixon fundraiser. Woodward asks how his $25,000 check ended up in the Watergate money trail. It’s a dangerous question, and you see Woodward ask it and then remain silent for several agonizing moments, until the man on the other end of the phone finally blurts out incriminating information.
The moral: Shut your mouth. Wait. People hate silence and rush to fill it. Ask your question. Let them talk. If you have to, count to 10. Make eye contact, smile, nod, but don’t speak. You’ll be amazed at the riches that follow. “Silence opens the door to hearing dialogue, rare and valuable in breaking stories,” says Brady Dennis of The Washington Post.
PSG striker and all-round legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic was his prickly self at the weekend when dealing with journalists after a Ligue 1 match.
PSG drew 1-1 with Ibrahimovic scoring their goal from the penalty spot.
Afterwards one reporter asked the Swedish superstar how it felt to score his first goal in the league in two months.
The problem - Ibrahimovic scored the winning goal against St Etienne in the league only last month.
Zlatan walked away from the interview, saying to the hapless journalist: “Please my friend, if you don’t know your information don’t talk to me”.
PSG striker and all-round legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic was his prickly self at the weekend when dealing with journalists after a Ligue 1 match.
PSG drew 1-1 with Ibrahimovic scoring their goal from the penalty spot.
Afterwards one reporter asked the Swedish superstar how it felt to score his first goal in the league in two months.
The problem - Ibrahimovic scored the winning goal against St Etienne in the league only last month.
Zlatan walked away from the interview, saying to the hapless journalist: “Please my friend, if you don’t know your information don’t talk to me”.
PSG striker and all-round legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic was his prickly self at the weekend when dealing with journalists after a Ligue 1 match.
PSG drew 1-1 with Ibrahimovic scoring their goal from the penalty spot.
Afterwards one reporter asked the Swedish superstar how it felt to score his first goal in the league in two months.
The problem - Ibrahimovic scored the winning goal against St Etienne in the league only last month.
Zlatan walked away from the interview, saying to the hapless journalist: “Please my friend, if you don’t know your information don’t talk to me”.
