BASIC REPORTING PROGRAM 8

Interviewing

In simple terms, an interview is a conversation between two people. A quick "chat" with a member of the congregation after Mass may elicit some of the quotes you are looking for to convey how at least one layperson felt about the event. That layperson may not even realize he or she is being interviewed, given the casual nature of the way the questions are asked.

At the other extreme is the formal interview with an "important" person - an archbishop, government minister, guerrilla leader - with ground rules which may have to be agreed beforehand, such as in some cases submitting a list of the questions to be asked before the interview.

A SIMPLE CONVERSATION

In both cases, though, interviews are usually conversations between two people. And what really pays off it to have an enthusiastic sense of curiosity. Being interested in people, interested in their lives, in what makes them tick, can be invaluable when interviewing. Such curiosity will help you convey more than merely a superficial depiction of the subject you are discussing and the person, the interviewee.

For example, you may be interviewing a female social worker about a program at a children's home she set up. Although the program may be the focus of your story, your interest in the social worker may lead you to ask why she started the home in the first place and how she struggled through funding difficulties to make it successful. It is in this questioning that you might find out that the social worker was herself brought up in an orphanage, and that it wasn't just funding problems but also resistance from local people to the setting up of the home that she faced.

So, although your finished story will focus on the social worker's latest program, you may be able to include elements and description of the personal struggle the social worker has faced in life and in starting and running the home. Focusing just on the program, without the more personal questions, might result in a dull story. Adding "spice" from the life and struggle of the social worker - herself an orphan - may really help in writing an interesting story.

SIMPLE CONVERSATION BUT NOT CHIT-CHAT

Although an interview can be considered a simple conversation, this does not mean you should write just chit-chat, simple comments and pleasantries. You need to go deeper than noting down easy comments such as – “I liked the meeting.” Why did the person like the meeting? How did it help the person? What will the person do as a result of having come to the meeting?

On the one hand, you don’t want to give the impression you are “interogating” your interviewee. On the other hand, you want to find out what the person is doing and why.

THE KEY POINTS Keep in mind those important questions – the 5 Ws and an H - that need to be answered in any story – who, what, where, when, why and how. These questions need to be answered in the interview.

For example, take the following interview with a Catholic priest who is running a soup kitchen in Uzbekistan. The following might be the sort of questions you would want to ask:

- who is helping fund your social program?

- what meals do you provide?

- where do the people come from?

- when during the week do you offer the meals?

- why did you start the program?

- how do you offer the meals?

This is just a simple example to illustrate the need to make sure the key questions are asked. Obviously, every W could be asked in a number of ways such as:

- who is helping fund your social program?

- who do you help?

- who helps you run the soup kitchen?

- who thought of the idea?

- etc.

Of course, in the interview you may not need to ask certain questions as you may already have the answers. For example, you may already know that the soup kitchen is run every Tuesday lunchtime and that the idea came from the priest. So your questions should try to delve deeper, to look at the underlying reasons and causes, to try to paint a more comprehensive picture of the soup kitchen and why it is needed.

TYPES OF INTERVIEWS Interviews can be carried out in several ways:

1. Face-to-face - the arranged or official interview

2. Face-to-face – the casual interview

3. Telephone interview

4. E-mail or fax interview

There is a basic formula or set of "rules" for face-to-face interviews that will help you get the best out of your interview. This set of rules is by no means inclusive – there may be other important points to remember – but it does offer a useful working guide. These rules concern preparation, the conducting of the interview, and what you do after the interview, and can be presented briefly as follows:

1. BE PREPARED - Make sure you know enough about the interviewee and/or subject before you ask questions. Ideally, you should know the basic facts about the person or subject so that you can ask the right questions. Make sure you have done enough research so that you can have a "good conversation" - in essence what interviews should be - with the person you are interviewing. If you can, try to make a list of questions beforehand to ask.

2. DON'T BE LATE! - It is always worthwhile making sure you arrive at an interview early. Firstly, you will not be late, which could give a bad impression and sour the mood of the interviewee. Secondly, it will give you the opportunity to observe things, possibly helping you obtain a more rounded picture of the interviewee by observing the personal effects and pictures in his or her office or home through which you can gain a sense of the living environment of the person.

3. GET THE RULES OF THE INTERVIEW STRAIGHT - Before you start the interview, make sure the interviewee understands that the interview is "on the record," and that the comments will be used by UCA News under his or her name. There may, however, be exceptions to this rule in countries and circumstances where the reporter cannot reveal his or her identity as a UCAN reporter. If the subject requests anonymity, respect it. Make sure you don't unwittingly give away the person's identity. For example: "the local parish priest, who requested not to be named" may give away the person's identity if there is only one priest in the parish.

4. NOTES OR TAPE? - The answer to the question of how to record your interview is not a simple one. It is good to develop skill in notetaking or shorthand and to use this to record the interview. But there are also times when it is preferable to use a tape recorder to accurately record the interview. Make sure to label and date your notes and tapes to avoid confusion and delay later trying to find certain quotes or material.

In some cases, you may not be able to use a notebook or a tape recorder. You may find you have to use your memory. This may be necessary in countries or in cases where you do not want to make it obvious that you are a reporter. One tip to bear in mind is to go to the toilet often (that is if there is a toilet!). Once you get into the toliet, jot down quick notes that will help you remember the quotes or conversations when you get home. Or find somewhere else where you are out of sight and can quickly make notes. Try to be relaxed about it.

5. BE OBSERVANT - Interviews can be as much about what you see as what you hear. Make sure you take in as much as you can about the interviewee's behavior and gestures during the interview as well as the place of work, home or the site of the interview. This may help to add color to your story, and may give you extra insight into the life of your subject.

6. DON'T RUSH YOUR INTERVIEWEE - Let the person speak. There are times when you may have to be "hard" on your interviewee - pushing the person to answer a question he has been evading. But most of the time, the interviewee – not the interviewer - should be the one who is talking.

7. SILENCE IS GOLDEN - Following on from the point above, keep quiet. For example, you might ask a question, yet not receive an adequate reply. Allow a pause, keep quiet, and your interviewee may feel compelled to continue, trying to explain more, and possibly offering the reply you were looking for.

8. INTERUPT IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND - If you don't understand something that was said, ask for an explanation. There is no problem in asking your interviewee to explain something. Or put what the person said into your own words and ask whether this would be the correct way to explain the point to your readers. This is better than ending up with an answer that doesn't make sense or can't be adequately explained to the editors. One way to try to mask your own ignorance about a subject is to ask the interviewee – “For our readers, how would you describe that to a reader who has no understanding of the subject?”

9. ENGAGE YOUR SUBJECT - Look the person in the eye. Show you are interested. Don't keep your nose in your notebook. Body language can mean a lot in an interview. It is interesting to watch a couple of people talking together. Their body language can indicate whether the people are friends, are in agreement with each other, or are angry or disturbed. Act naturally, but be aware that your physical posture and actions - scribbling with your head stuck in your notebook or fiddling with your tape recorder - send signals.

10. IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE? - It is always worth asking an interviewee at the end of the interview if there is anything the person would like to add. You might be surprised. There may be a burning issue, not brought up in the interview, that the person wants to talk about. That final answer or conversation may provide you with valuable material for your story or Q&A interview.

11. LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN FOR QUERIES - It can be helpful to add at the end of the interview a request to be able to get back to the interviewee if there are any further queries or maybe to follow up with an interview in the future. This is one of the reasons why it is best to ask an easy or "friendly" open question at the end of the interview, even if you had to "grill" the interviewee with some tough questions. Try to finish off in a friendly manner.

12. REVIEW YOUR NOTES AND WRITE UP THE INTERVIEW QUICKLY - Just because you have finished the interview doesn't mean it is time to relax. Try to make sure you review and clarify your notes, marking the key answers. Then try to write up the interview or story as soon as you can while the event is still fresh in your mind. It is amazing how quickly you can forget important points or gestures in an interview, especially if you have been busy interviewing a number of people.

13. KEEP YOUR NOTES AND TAPES SAFE - File your notes and/or recording tapes so that you can refer back to them but also in case there is any dispute over what was said after the story is published.

Next: Reporting checklist