News Interview techniques

Interviews

An interview aims at providing the audience the experience of being a part of the happenings. Interviews are of various types ranging from the informal one to one chats to roundtable discussions. Giving information is not the sole aim of conducting interviews. Usually, the subjects for the interview are the ones who hit the headlines regularly or people with unusual experiences and hobbies or people who are well versed in the areas of knowledge. The person who conducts an interview is called an interviewer and the subject who is being interviewed is called the interviewee.

Questions are an integral part of an interview. An interviewer should be thorough with all the information on the subject to prepare effective questions. Interview questions are classified under various divisions.

-Open questions and closed questions.

Open questions demand more information and require descriptive answers; while closed questions can be answered with a yes or no.

-Empty questions

These are questions that do not require a specific answer. For example: do you have anything more to say to our audience?

-Contact questions

These are the initial questions that are asked to develop a rapport between the subject and the interviewer. Contact questions are not meant to make any substantial revelations.

-Leading questions

Leading questions are used to start a new session or topic.

-Closing questions

Closing questions attempt to sum up issues that are already discussed during the session.

Interviews are broadly classified under two divisions. Purpose-based interviews and Setting based interviews.

According to BBC, there are three categories under purpose based interviews.

1. Hard exposure interviews: Used for investigating a subject thoroughly. For eg: interviews with politicians or other personalities involved in a controversy.

2. Informational interviews: These are of interactive nature and attract the audience. Film based interviews, entertainment interviews, and personal interviews come under this category.

3. Emotional interviews: These types of interviews aimed at revealing the interviewee’s state of mind. For eg: ‘How do you feel being the first ex-PM to face many charges soon after leaving the office?’

Setting-based interviews consist of seven variations.

A. Eyewitness interview: They are also called spot interviews. At the place of happening, the reporter must identify subjects who are willing to talk in front of the camera. They are conducted under the tremendous pressure of time and focus on gathering facts.

B. Door stepper: The short time interview with a political personality or other dignitaries at an event and which involves a very few questions is called a doorstepper. These interviews focus on such hit or miss affairs. Even capturing a ‘no comment’ reply is adequate for the authenticity of the report.

C. Set piece: These type of interviews are widely used during the occurrence of major events such as annual budget presentation, cabinet formation etc. Such interviews are conducted at the interviewee’s office. It requires much planning for the preparation of questions.

D. Studio interview: These are live interviews where the interviewees are invited to the television studio.

E. Down the line: In this type of interview, the interviewer is connected through telephone or other digital communication devices, to the subject who could be in another place.

F. Car interview: A car interview is commonly used for personal interviews, where the interviewer asks the questions sitting in a vehicle, while the interviewee answers it while driving.

G. Walking interview: These interviews are common when making a documentary or a news report on an individual. It requires great technical skill to shoot and record such interviews.