Interviewing principles, techniques and practices for:



Print media:

• Before you meet the subject, prepare yourself. Make sure that you know a bit about your interviewee and the topic that you will be interviewing them about.


• Write your questions carefully. Make sure that they are concise and easy to understand. As well as this, only ask open question, which are questions that require more than a yes or no answer and can be expanded on by the interviewee.


• Before the interview, you may want to give your subject a list of questions you may ask them. This will give them an idea of what to expect and also help them to feel more comfortable.


• Choose a location for the interview where the subject will feel relaxed. Ensure that you are polite. This will make the interviewee more open and honest with you.


• Have a casual conversation with your subject before you start the interview to help them to feel at ease. Do not use leading questions or bias during the interview.


• Take notes on what the interviewee says and also any other relative information, such as the setting and the subject's body language, that may add interest to the article.


• Make sure the subject is comfortable throughout the interview. This will help them to give more interesting and in-depth responses to your questions.


• At the end of the interview ensure that you have the subject’s contact details in case you need a follow-up interview.


• Ensure you have your interviewee’s name spelt correctly.

Internet :

• Internet interviews are useful when the interviewee is quite shy. When answering questions on the computer rather than in person they may be willing to give you more information.


• Before the interview starts, remind your interviewee that grammar and spelling is important as what they write may be taken directly from the email and put into quotes in the article.


• Do not write in capital letters. This goes against netiquette, and translates to shouting.


• Make sure the email address you are using to question the interviewee is from a reliable source. As you cannot see the person, you cannot be completely sure of their identity.


• Word your interview questions carefully as you cannot quickly reword the question if the interviewee does not understand the question properly.


• Follow up the email interview with a phone call to make sure that identity of the individual that you interviewed is who you thought they were.


• With internet interviews, you cannot rely on spontaneous questions making the interview more interesting. Instead, make sure that the questions you ask will provide interesting responses.


• Be especially careful not to misquote, as the interviewee will have a record on their computer of exactly what they wrote.

Radio:

• Plan your interview questions before the interview takes place.


• Tell you interviewee a few days prior to the interview what you will be questioning them about, so that they can prepare.


• Before you go on air, write you introduction to the story. Make sure that what you are going to be talking about is clear and that it sounds interesting to the listeners.


• Stay relaxed. This will help your interviewee to feel more at ease, consequently improving the interview as a whole.


• Make sure that you are courteous and polite. If not, you will offend the interviewee and get a bad reputation from your audience.


• Make sure the interview stays on track with what you spoke about in the introduction.


• Do not use jargon and explain what the meaning is to your audience if your interviewee uses it.


• Stick to your time schedule.

Television:

• Do not wear too much jewellery or flashy clothing that will take attention off what is being said.


• Wear makeup that is waterproof so that it is able to withstand perspiration.


• Tell the interviewee to look at the interviewer rather than the camera, and do this yourself.


• Make sure that you and your interviewee are comfortable. Maybe provide a glass of water in case your interviewee’s voice gets sore or tired during the interview.


• Make sure you maintain a good posture throughout the interview to look your best on camera.


• It is very important for the interviewee to know what types of questions are being asked before the actual interview, so that they are not stunned into silence whilst they are on air.


• Do not sit between interviewees where you will have to move your head to look at each of them.


• Speak clearly to ensure that both the audience and the interviewee understand what you are saying.


• Don’t interrupt and interviewee. As well as stopping the interviewee from saying what they want to say, this will look bad from the audience’s persepctive.

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=32&aid=20417 www.ots.ca.gov/grants/files/pdf/interview%20techniques%203-08.pdf http://www.community-media.com/interview.html http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4005 http://www.community-media.com/interview.html
http://www.radiodiaries.org/handbook4.html
http://www.tpub.com/content/photography/14129/css/14129_125.htm