Ink: PressBase: Resource Book:
Interviews

It's not as easy as it looks! Here are some pointers to help your interview go as smoothly as possible.

Let the person talk. Don't interrupt, argue, or mutter. You're here to let them tell their story, not to express your point of view.

Know your topic and your interviewee. Do your research! If you don't have reasonable knowledge of the subject, it will show in your questions. Your audience will lose respect for you, and so will the person you're interviewing.

LISTEN. Don't just ask a specific set of questions. If the person you're interviewing says something worth going into further, go into it! The best interview is a good conversation. All too often, rookie journalists will ask a set set of questions, jumping from one to the next, leaving the flow choppy and the best questions left unanswered. Don't let this happen to you!

Have them say and spell their name. Do this before you start the interview, and get them on tape if you're recording. This will save you problems later.

Save difficult questions for last. That way, you can better guage whether or not to ask them, and if the person is offended, at least you got the rest of the interview!

Listen to your tape/Read your notes. You wouldn't be conducting the interview if you didn't think the story was newsworthy, but after you have the interview, go over it again to determine if the story is still newsworthy. Maybe it wasn't quite as good as you thought it would be.

Contributing to the Resource Book
The Resource Book depends on users to expand and improve. For details on how you can participate, visit the Contributions page.