An Examination of Journalistic Interviewing

Competencies

Serena Carpenter Anthony Cepak Zhao Peng

SocialAnxiety

Most Applied Methoddominant source for information

Theoretical Unknownhmmm…...

Top-Ranked Skillout of a lot of journalism skills

JOURNALISTIC INTERVIEWING COMPENTENCIES

Source speaks 70-80% of the time Interpret the intended meanings Draw out both emotion and

information Sources resistant or eager to share

information Articulate common ground and

create intimacy with a source in minutes

big concept

Observed & disseminated crime & government information

the broadcast interview

Live studio interviews

Co-present

Repeat questions

and conflict

LISTENING

Ask follow-up questions

so this is what we teach

RESEARCH

Search for news clippings or stories

Search web

PROFESSIONAL DEMEANOR

Dress professionally

Be polite Arrive on

time

x

Communication Communication

competence Dialogic

communication principles

x

Health Patient-physician

communication & interview

Qualitative Method

Interviewing best practices

Law Police interviewing

competencies Police cognitive

interview

Sample Descriptives

JournalistsN=9

EducatorsN=11

Age 44 years 57 yearsExperience 10 years 20 yearsTeaching Experience 5 years

Gender 7 m 2 f 6 m 5 fMedium 7 print

2 broadcast6 print

5 broadcastJRN Degree 6 7

let’s overview some findings

Listening InteractionManagement Research Empathy

VerificationSelf-Presentation

Open-MindednessObservation News

Judgment

Articulation

let’s overview some findings

Listening InteractionManagement Research Empathy

VerificationSelf-Presentation

Open-MindednessObservation News

Judgment

Articulation

let’s overview some findings

Listening InteractionManagement Research Empathy

VerificationSelf-Presentation

Open-MindednessObservation News

Judgment

Articulation

let’s overview some findings

Listening InteractionManagement Research Empathy

VerificationSelf-Presentation

Open-MindednessObservation News

Judgment

Articulation

Backchannel Responses ProbesFollow-up

Questions

“A good interviewer really listens to what the subject is saying and asks follow-up

questions; good, pertinent, on-point follow-up questions. I think too often, particularly younger journalists, will go into an interview with a lot of

questions in mind and plow through their questions. And maybe miss an opportunity to dig deeper when the subject said something (#10).”

LISTENING

Question Sequencing

“Give them a softball."

Rapport Building

“Where they can be themselves.”

Conversational Norm Violation

“People look to fill silence."

Remain Calm“Always remain professional.”

Interaction Management

Research

Search engines Reading and watching news

stories and general content Consuming social media content Interviewing other news sources

“I think we’re so caught up in being the objective journalist and trying to seek the almighty objectivity, which is fantastic. But sometimes we let that hold us back sometime…It’s OKAY TO RESPOND to a shooting, and just say, ‘Hey, this is really sad. This is really tough. God, I can’t believe this.’ Even this little HUMAN RESPONSE to show that you’re not a robot (#20).”

Articulation

SHORTand

SWEET

“There are plenty of people who DON’T KNOW HOW IT WORKS, really. And I just don’t like to

assume that they do or not care they don’t know. I think if someone’s talking to a journalist, they need

to know exactly what they are getting into…You have to READ THE PERSON you’re approaching. Do they KNOW THE RULES OF THE GAME or do you need

to spend 30 seconds spelling things out? (#11).”

Articulation

“You want to BE APPROPRIATE. I mean, I go see a big time lawyer, I’m going to wear a necktie. If I’m going to cover a film festival, regular, like a dress casual sort of place. You go to a Harley Davidson festival in Sturgis, you’re probably going to wear jeans. YOU DON’T WANT TO BE OVERDRESSED to the point where people are going to make fun of you. Who is the numb nuts in the tie? (#5).”

Self-Presentation

Substantiate Interpretations

Hold Sources Accountable

VerificationDouble-Check Facts & Details

Acknowledge Limitations

“DON’T FORGET QUESTION. Pay attention to your own question, and make sure it GETS ANSWERED. Either forcefully or gently depending upon who you are talking to (#2).”

Verification

Observant

Mirror body language and vocal tone

Detect feelings

Observe non-verbal inconsistences

“You can observe things about their surroundings. If you interview someone in their home, you can see the types of things that they have in their home. If you interview them in your office, you can see again what types of things

they surround themselves with (#3).”

Observant

News Judgment Extract

quote-worthy (i.e., emotional, subjective, or opinionated) responses

Communicate the news topic of interest

Keep interview focused on news angle

“I also believe you have to think on your feet and react to the subject. So if you find that the subject is going down a certain path with more enthusiasm, follow up with that instead of sticking to your script. So that there’s a flow to the interview, and it’s not just, you finish the question, you go on to the next one (#8).”

News Judgment

Be open

Seek to understand the source’s viewpoints

Ask open-ended question to capture experiences

Non-judgmental

Ask non-biased questions

React non-judgmentally

Thank you!

I am SERENA CARPENTER with ANTHONY CEPAK and ZHAO PENG

You can find me at:@dr_serena carp@msu.edu