Presentation and discussion 2 | Topic 10.

Interview
Foreign language
Dsko-201-ko
Tkachenko Elena
Interviews are nerve-racking. No matter how many times you've gone through it, the thought
of being interviewed can still make you feel nervous. Coming up with great questions while
properly evaluating a potential employee takes a lot of focus and preparation. Plenty of
people don't think about it, but the person doing all the asking gets nervous too.
Prep your subject. The interviewee should have the chance to prepare for the questions
they’ll be asked. While you don’t usually need to provide a complete list of specific
interview questions, give them a general idea or the key points of what they’ll be asked and
the topics that will be covered. You want an element of spontaneity without catching your
subject completely off-guard.
Before the Interview. Arriving early will allow you to participate in lighting and sound
checks. Typically, a pre-interview precedes the on-camera interview. This allows you to
assess the interviewer, and mention topic(s) you’d like to discuss. Often the pre-interview
can help set the tone for the interview. A technician may clip a lavalier, or lapel, microphone
to your jacket. Speak naturally, and avoid brushing your hand or clothing against the
microphone. Women should remove necklaces likely to swing against the microphone. If a
technician asks you to test the sound level by speaking, speak at your normal level. Say
something innocuous (e.g., talk about the weather, recite a poem). Don’t try to be funny, or
say anything off-color or controversial.
Start slow. Have a goal in mind for the kind of information you want to glean from this
interview, and slowly work your way towards it by asking simple questions. Interviews can
be emotional, and hammering people with ‘gotcha-style’ questioning or asking the tough
questions too soon can cause the interviewee to feel uncomfortable, especially if this is their
first TV interview. Remember that this is an interview, not an interrogation. You want to
gain your subject’s trust and build to the intense, revealing moments naturally, while also
making sure to cover the main points of the story.
Use active listening. Use your body language to indicate your attention and focus is on the
person you’re interviewing. Letting your interviewee talk and tell their story with only
minimal guidance is the ideal way to conduct your interview. You want your audience to see
a person freely sharing their story, product, experience, or knowledge—not someone being
prodded for sound bites. Even after your subject has answered your question, maintain eye
contact and leave a small pause. It’s likely your interviewee has a few prepared answers, so
give them a moment to try and fill the silence themselves.
Ask open-ended questions. Ask follow-up questions to gain more information from your
subject, but rather than searching for ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers, ask questions that will lead to a
story, or an emotional share. For instance, “how did you feel when you sold an album for the
first time?” Or, “when did you realize you wanted to be a doctor?” These questions may not
be part of your outline, but it’s important to react with follow-ups that can expand the
story—and questions you know your viewers would want to know the answers to.
Ask Follow-up Questions During the Interview. If you're listening during the interview and
are not content with the answers you're getting, ask follow-up questions to get the
information you want. Otherwise, you'll return to the newsroom and discover that while you
recorded a ten-minute interview with your U.S. senator, you didn't get any information.
Sometimes follow-up questions have to challenge someone's answer. Other times, you may
find follow-ups help you better understand a complicated answer. If you're not sure what
someone means, it's better to say, "Explain it to me," than it is to get back to the newsroom
and realize you can't write your story because you didn't understand what the person was
talking about.
During the Interview:
• Make punchy and concise statements; put your most important message up front; talk
to the interviewer or guests, not the camera, unless instructed otherwise.
• Breaking eye contact by staring off into space or looking at the ground will make you
appear shifty; stay attentive when others are speaking; if it is a remote interview — the
reporter is offsite asking you questions through an ear piece — look directly at the
camera at all times; try to avoid being distracted by activity around you in the studio,
keep focused on the interviewer.
• Avoid overlapping the reporter’s questions. In other words, wait until the question is
finished to begin your answer. Hold your interview attitude until the interview is over
and the camera is off.
Television interviews can have intense, emotion-packed moments. As an interviewer, part of
a job—along with well-prepped research—is knowing when and how to ask the right
questions, as well as keeping your subject comfortable. TV interviewers should be great
listeners, ask good questions, digest and analyze the information they’re given, and expand
on it with their interviewee in a way that provides a complete story for the audience.