•  Presentations
•  Current semester

Week 2 - Interviewing

1. Prepare carefully
  • Research the subject matter
    • Discover facts about the person you are going to interview
    • Name spelling, professional background, personal information
    • Sometimes as easy as a media kit at a sporting event
    • Most of the time not so easy
    • Newspaper library, past articles
    • Public records
    • Other people who know this person
  • Search for background information
    • Conduct smaller, background interviews with other people leading up to and following up a major interview
  • Verify the facts
    • Spelling, punctuation
  • Develop an outline
    • Big picture
    • What do you want from this big interview?
    • What do you already know? What do you still need to find out?
  • Write your interview questions
    • Write a list of questions
    • If you don't write them, you'll forget something important
    • KEY -- Be prepared to ask follow-up questions
    • KEY -- Be prepared to rephrase your questions
    • Always conclude with: May I call you back to double-check details or if I have further questions?

2. Handling the interview
  • You are in charge
  • You ask the questions
  • You set the pace
  • Be polite and courteous
  • Listen
  • Create a conversational atmosphere
  • Don't let the conversation wander

3. Useful quotes
  • From a lengthy interview may come just one or two useful quotes
  • Not everything has to be quoted
  • You can paraphrase, but remain accurate
  • Use quotes to expand upon the facts you are presenting
  • You should have more information and more quotes than you'll need
  • Select the best, most effective quotes
4. Fairness and accuracy
  • Converting conversation to written word, is, well, like, you know, not always easy, you know?
  • Don't have to use direct quote. Attribute content, such as, Mayor Smith said that a playground for children in the park is a priority and will be completed before the end of June.
5. Interviewing in person, on the phone, via Internet

6. Taking notes vs. tape recorders
  • Reporter's notebook is essential
  • Eye contact is essential
  • Note-taking ability is a practiced skill
  • Bring multiple pens (you may run out of ink, pen breaks)
  • Cold weather? Bring a pencil or two and a sharpener
  • Wet weather? Plastic bag
  • Tape recorders, especially the small ones are great.
  • Test first
  • Extra batteries
  • One on one: Don't shove the tape recorder into face
  • Always ask permission to record the conversation
  • Great for online audio

7. Using quotes in a story
• Example from cnn.com

One sentence quote
• "As a Christian, a trained engineer and scientist, and a professor at Emory University, I am embarrassed by Superintendent Kathy Cox's attempt to censor and distort the education of Georgia's students," Carter said in a written statement.

Multi-sentence quote
• "The existing and long-standing use of the word 'evolution' in our state's textbooks has not adversely affected Georgians' belief in the omnipotence of God as creator of the universe," Carter said. "There can be no incompatibility between Christian faith and proven facts concerning geology, biology, and astronomy."

Attribution before quote
• She added: "We don't want the public or our students to get stuck on a word when the curriculum actually includes the most widely accepted theories for biology. Ironically, people have become upset about the exclusion of the word again, without having read the document."

Partial quote, aka quote as part of a sentence
• Former President Jimmy Carter said he was "embarrassed" by Georgia's proposal to ban the word "evolution" from the state's curriculum.
• But Carter said dropping the word would leave Georgia's high school graduates "with a serious handicap as they enter college or private life where freedom of speech will be permitted."

Multi-paragraph quote
• "The existing and long-standing use of the word 'evolution' in our state's textbooks has not adversely affected Georgians' belief in the omnipotence of God as creator of the universe," Carter said. "There can be no incompatibility between Christian faith and proven facts concerning geology, biology, and astronomy.

"There is no need to teach that stars can fall out of the sky and land on a flat Earth in order to defend our religious faith."


Quote inside a quote
• "The unfortunate truth is that 'evolution' has become a controversial buzzword that could prevent some from reading the proposed biology curriculum," Cox said in her statement.