Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Interviewing- February 15


A.  Interviewing- having conversations with sources

Preparation for an Interview
-          research both your subject and your source
-          appearance: know your source

Types of stories, involving interviews
  1. News-more attention to subject matter (neutral)
  2. Profile- more attention to personal (friendly)
  3. Investigative- equal attention to information and subject (distrust)

Phrasing questions

Open ended- neutral, less direct and less threatening questions.  These are not so personal.  Ideally, the source often reveals more than they intend to.  Example from book.  A pro scout would not admit to which player he was interested in at a college game, so the reporter asked some general questions to pry by asking, “what kind of qualities does a pro scout look for in an athlete?”

Close ended- specific direct questions made to produce specific answers.

Ensuring Accuracy- take extensive notes, ask your source to explain their answers and use a sound recording device.

Understanding
Observation- watch your source for the non verbal clues.  What is their body language saying?  Are they nervous?

Comprehension- if a response is unclear.  Be sure that you know what they mean.  When a source is quiet, take note of that.

Asking follow up questions- ask questions in response to other questions they answer.  This you cannot usually prepare for.

B.  Research Task:  Find the most compelling and interesting living personality who is presently involved in some type of current event issue.  They must be involved in current event issue: do not just merely select a long time interest or hero. 

Here’s the process-  find current event news on the internet and select an actual person involved in this event.  The possibilities range from the election to the war.  After you have determined who this person is, do research on the current event issue and research the actual person as well.  Discover the details of the current event they are involved in and determine your individual’s background, personality, motivations and anything else which will help you conduct an interesting and productive interview. 

After these considerations have been determined, you will write a proposal for your interview.  In this proposal, you must include:  the open and closed ended questions you will ask, what you will wear, how you will address your subject, where you will meet, how you will record the information from the interview, and how you will accomplish an interview, in the first place.  Be as thorough as possible, as your preparation is crucial.  You must have at least 12 questions- try to move the interview from less direct questions to increasing directness without offending or insulting your subject in any way; the object is to get them to divulge as much pertinent information as possible.  Be invasive without them knowing it.

Below is space to think. Please complete what your current event issue is and the individual you have chosen to interview, as well as the information you will glean from your research.  Please type your proposal and save it onto your disk.

Current Event Issue













Sources:








Individual












Sources:




Proposal








No comments:

Post a Comment