[MUSIC] Welcome to Be a Journalist, I'm Dave Poulson, and in this lesson we will learn about conducting interviews. So you got a great story idea. You uncovered some supporting data and you read up on the latest about your subject. You've got background. Now don't forget the obvious. Ask questions of real people. How interviews are conducted varies by reporter, story, circumstance, and source. Obstinate officials need to be aggressively badgered for answers. Don't be like the Sunday morning news anchors, demand an answer. Hey, you didn't answer the question, what's the answer? But then shy people need to be gently coddled until they relax enough to give you that great quote. And victims particularly need to be sensitively interviewed. People who are prone to providing answers that are highly technical and full of jargon need to be asked? All that diversity aside, veteran journalists say there are some common techniques that serve them well. As far as questions go, the simpler the better. Let me tell you about the power of why. You learned the best question when you were three years old. And you certainly asked it enough. Why? You can ask it sharply, gently, interestedly, skeptically. But it will always yield good stuff. Ask someone why they did something or why something happened. It's a question that moves mountains, as long as you understand the answer. And if you're unsure if you understand that answer, ask it again and again until you really do. Are you still unsure? Repeat your best understanding of what your sources are saying and then ask them if you have it right. If they say no, ask them to try again until you both agree that you understand. Never leave an interview confused about an answer. Why is a wonderfully direct question. If your subject tries to avoid an answer, just hit them with it again. Hey, why won't you answer my question? One thing you want to do is avoid closed-ended questions like this. So this is City Councilman Jones. And what you want to avoid is questions like this. Councilman Jones, is the mayor doing a good job? >> Yes, he is. >> Now see, that's a lousy answer. It's a closed-ended question requiring a yes or a no answer. And what you want are open-ended questions that require some explanation. Something that you can write about. So instead ask, Councilman Jones, why do you support the mayor? >> Because he fixed the roads and he balanced the budget. >> Now we have something to write about. That's an open-ended question requiring explanation. Now we often inadvertently ask closed questions receiving a yes or no answer. And the solution to that is just to channel your inner three your old and follow up with that why. Okay, here's another great question. How's that work? It's particularly effective for prompting researchers and other experts to open up and talk in a lively and understandable way. Experts usually are excited to talk about research they've been working on for years. So, our councilman just got a new job. He's now a biologist. Mr. Biologist, what do you do? >> I study how to breed captive whooping cranes. >> Wow, how does that work? We'll let him off the hook on that one. >> [LAUGH] >> But you know that if he could answer that question, there's a great story behind it, right? Okay, here's another good question. Can you help me to understand this? And that question has two important effects beyond getting the answer. It flatters your source's ego, and it shows them that you are willing to listen. That can get them on your side, the side of explaining clearly to the public. So now our councilman/biologist, we'll make him an engineer. Mr. Engineer, what are you working on? >> It's a fully suspended, five-axis, three-magnetic-bearing dynamic spin rig with forced-excitation. >> Hm, can you help me understand that? >> It's something that may let me build an engine that doesn't need motor oil. >> Hey, I can understand that, and that sounds like a story to me. If you're looking for someone who did something newsworthy to describe what happened, a neat trick is to ask, if this were a movie and it's the opening scene, what would the camera focus on? Getting people to think of a movie to fill in the blanks of the narrative can really work. And you can even get your source to help you come up with questions. At the end of the interview, always ask a source, is there anything else that will help our readers understand? Or even, is there anything I haven't asked you that I ought to be asking? Is there anything else you want to tell me? Now how about those tough questions? Many reporters save them for last in case they prompt a source to end an interview early, but that's not a hard and fast rule. Sometimes you don't have time, like when you're chasing after a politician. If you can only get in one or two questions, ask the hardest, toughest ones. You can always dig out the easier ones later from other people connected to that situation. Perhaps the best question of all is no question at all. Try silence. The urge to break a silence is a journalists powerful ally. Many insist that their most successful interviews happen when they keep their mouths shut. During a long pause, it's amazing what people will say if you don't jump in. Now, a variation of the silence tactic is just a well placed uh-huh, uh-huh. It often spurs elaboration. Be aware that the best stuff always comes at the end, when the source thinks the interview is over and start to let loose. Keep the recorder running or the notebook open. And when a source is evasive, make sure to say, hey, you didn't answer the question. And if you stick with that response, I'll have to write that you refused to answer.
