Interviews

Broadcast Interviews Print Interviews Media Policy Crisis Management Home

Interviews are what makes news.Whether it is print, radio or televised media, the interview is the basic mode of information gathering. There are some specific points to remember when approached by a reporter for an interview. Do your homework. List the points you want to make and have them handy for reference. Have a theme. Create what sentence you would want heard if it was the only thing you got to say and don't be afraid of repeating yourself. Just say it a different way. A radio or television reporter may use your point within different contexts and if you don't repeat it, it may get edited. Listen carefully. If the reporter is off track to what you want to say, you probably aren't communicating effectively. If you get a strange question, go back to your point and say it in a different way. Always remember for whom you are speaking. Most often, we are speaking for an organization and not for ourselves. Also, who is your audience? Business people, commuters, families? Your message may need to change. Never get angry at a reporter. Your response could be mentioned without any mention of the questions context. If you do get angry, pause and compose yourself.... most interviews are taped and will be edited if there is a break. If you are live, remember that a pregnant pause can be useful and that it will always seem longer than it really is. Challenge a reporter's effort to put words in your mouth. Stay on message and speak plainly so that someone with an sixth grade education can understand your point. Always be honest and don't be afraid to say you don't know. In most cases you can find out the answer and get back to the reporter. They will respect you for that. Broadcast Interviews Think of it as a Conversation While The Camera Eavesdrops Whatever you do…DO NOT THINK of the thousands of people who will be watching you on the evening news. This is a one-on-one conversation with the camera recording it. You are ONLY talking with the interviewer. If you have to in order to get your mind set… pretent you are talking with your mother. And look at the interviewer, not at the camera. Remember the camera is only recording the interview. The broadcast audience is one or two people. It is Mr. And Mrs. Joe Six-pack sitting in the living room six or eight feet from the TV set. The radio listener is even closer. Probably in a car. One of the secrets of broadcast interviews is to keep that audience in mind. Radio and television are very intimate. The zoom lens on a camera invades your zone of privacy, moving even closer than a person would, to focus on a drop of sweat, the flared nostrils, the gritted teeth. Radio’s microphone puts the person speaking at our shoulder. Sometimes, it whispers in our ear. In the best radio and TV interviews, the people talking seem unaware that we are eavesdropping. If you think of the large broadcast audience, you will instinctively project your voice to reach them. You don’t need to do that. The camera detects phonies. Bring to the conversation the real person inside you, not a front. Let your emotions show, if they’re real. You can be angry, or sad, pleased with yourself or your organization, shocked or dismayed at what you’ve just learned. One technique a broadcast interviewer may use is to ask the same question again. Don’t respond in an angry tone… “Like I told you before…”, or “If you would have been listening I already answered that question…”. Rather take it for what it is… a chance for you to answer the question again which gives the reporter another alternative while in editing. Remember..answer the questions, but do it simply! Interviews for Print Compared to broadcasting, print interviews can be a very lengthy process. To compete with broadcasting’s immediacy, newspapers and magazines go overboard with detail. Print reporters have a luxury that few broadcast reporters ever have — the luxury of time. Lots of time to research and write the story. Print reporters are often much more tenacious than broadcast reporters. The luxury of time permits them to doggedly stick with a rumor, trying to prove it’s true. Broadcast reporters will usually be pulled off and sent to another story if they don’t find what they’re looking for quickly. Reporters at larger newspapers are generally better educated and more experienced than their broadcast competition. They are experts who develop a specialty. When you know a print reporter will be interviewing you as part of a major assignment, it saves time if you can supply written material before the interview. Newspaper Reporters and Being "On the Record": Remember the general rules above and also that anything you say can and will be used against or for you. Being on the record means that you are speaking for publication. Being off the record means that you are giving a quote that you don't want attributed to you. You might be quoted as "a source", for instance. Speaking on "background" means that you will not be attributed but can give the reporter some of the events that led up to what is making news. Speaking on "deep background" means that you not only don't want to have anything attributed to you but also want the reporter to take special care to disguise your identity. This may be used when any information could only be attributed to yourself and a few other people. Caution: do not use "off the record", "background" or "deep background" carelessly. Speaking off the record has a great potential to backfire. Top