Advanced Reporting and Writing Workshop

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Advanced Reporting and Writing Workshop

• Gene Mustain
• Doreen Weisenhaus

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Good Interviewing

• John Sawatsky, a Canadian journalist and
  interview coach, says journalists must sound
  conversational, but never engage in conversation.
• They must not give into social instincts they
  must remain disciplined gatherers of information.

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Good Interviewing

• Sawatsky rejects view that the interview is a
  power struggle between interviewer and
  interviewee, a game to be won or lost.
• Instead of a sparring partner, the journalist is
  a professional listener and asker of questions
  designed to lead a source down a path that yields
  information.

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Good Interviewing

• Do not use questions as weapons.
• Resist the temptation to add your own values to
  questions. Instead, look for chances to use short
  questions that repeat the sources words.
• Source Donald is evasive.
• Reporter What do you mean, evasive?

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Good Interviewing

• Sawatskys technique is journalistic equivalent
  of judo, which teaches cooperation and using an
  opponents bigger size to the journalists
  advantage.
• Dont fight the sources superior knowledge use
  it to get them to share it with you.

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Good Interviewing

• Journalists get into trouble when they try to
  showcase their egos.
• Out-putting when the reporter voices an opinion
  or interjects a value.
• In-putting when the reporter asks nothing but
  neutral questions.

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Good Interviewing

• In news features, features and profiles, the best
  questions often begin with what, who and why
• as opposed to who, when and where, though of
  course sometimes those are needed to get details.

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Good Interviewing

• A final thought from John Sawatsky
• The goal of a conversation is to exchange
  information the goal of an interview is to
  receive information.

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Interviewing What to Do

• Here some specific Sawatsky tips
• 1) Ask neutral, open-ended questions.
• Dont ask Donald Tsang, Are you angry with the
  media?
• Instead, ask him What are some of the issues
  that have arisen between you and the media?

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Interviewing What to Do

• 2) You can probe tough issues, but dont ask
  tough-sounding questions.
• Ask focused, open-ended questions about the
  evidence of the tough issue you want to explore.
• Some say you have handled that issue badly.
  What do you say?

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Interviewing What to Do

• 3) Keep in mind Less is more.
• Short questions produce focused responses.
  Long, rambling questions get long answers, or
  confused replies.

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Interviewing What to Do

• 4) Strategize.
• This is especially important when the issue is
  a difficult one. Figure out a way to get the best
  responses.

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Interviewing What to Do

• 5) Establish agreement.
• Try to reach agreement on basic facts, rather
  than try to force interviewees to agree with your
  version of facts.

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Interviewing What to Do

• 6) Try building the interview on answers, not
  questions.
• People find it easier to volunteer than to
  admit. When the source makes an assertion, follow
  up with a question asking for evidence to support
  it.

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Interviewing What to Do

• 7) Put the burden of proof on the source.
• If a source insists, There was no crime, ask,
  How do you know that? If a source says, I
  cant remember, ask, Why cant you remember?

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Interviewing What to Avoid

• 1) Avoid closed-ended questions.
• Avoid asking questions that a source can
  answer with a simple yes or no.
• Such questions begin with Did you? Will you?
  Can you?

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Interviewing What to Avoid

• 2) Dont make a statement instead of asking a
  question.
• Instead of asking, It must have been tough in
  the early years, ask What were the early years
  like?

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Interviewing What to Avoid

• 3) Dont ask double-barreled questions, or two
  questions at once.
• If you do, the source will gravitate to the
  question that best suits them.

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Interviewing What to Avoid

• 4) Dont overload questions.
• Dont give the interview a chance to evade an
  answer by asking a question that is too broad.

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Interviewing What to Avoid

• 5) Dont put comments into questions.
• Comments from the reporter limit the reporters
  ability to get precise answers.

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Interviewing What to Avoid

• 6) Dont use trigger or loaded words in
  questions.
• Loaded words imply something negative. (Know
  local customs In the west, scheme is a loaded
  word in Hong Kong, it is not.)

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Interviewing What to Avoid

• 7) Dont use hyperbole (exaggeration) in
  questions.
• If you do, the source will try to compensate
  with a response that may not reflect what they
  truly think.