AUS 220 - Week 8 Interviews
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Our this week's lecture with Tim Dalton was about Interviews. In class, he spoke about and discussed the various interview techniques and the "Dos" and "Don'ts" about interviewing someone.
He explained how important it was to do pre-interview preparation rather than straight away sticking a microphone in to someone's face. He also explained about the different types of interviews, namely - Informational Interviews, Interpretive Interviews and Emotional Interviews.
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1. Informational Interviews – The primary objective of this type of interview is to reveal facts and opinions. The subject is asked questions using words like whom what, where, why, when and how, etc.
Questions starting with these words are called “open questions” because of their ability to yield a detailed answer other than just a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, which is not ideal for a good interview.
2. Interpretive Interviews – The primary motive of this kind of interview is to make the subject give his interpretation of the facts that are already known. He/she is asked about the probabilities of a future event based on what happened in similar circumstances before.
Example – The DIY home recording and music production is on the rise; the subject can be asked about his thoughts on the effect this will have on the professional studios and audio engineers?
3. Emotional Interviews – This is the most difficult type of interview to take but is also the most rewarding one.
“In an emotional interview, a certain amount of silence is more telling than any words, as the subject pauses to gather his or her thoughts, perhaps in the midst of mental turmoil.” (Interview,2017)
This type of interview has been criticised for exploiting the emotions of a person who went through and survived a traumatic experience. But in reality, no one can be compelled to speak if they do not wish to.
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As a journalist, it is very important to have patience and not be very ‘pushy’. People usually like to talk about their current or past experiences and it is proven to help them relieve stress. Its just a matter of asking the right questions at the right time and giving the subject some space and time to open up and pour out all of their emotions. It is also very important for professional journalists to not be too emotional themselves in an interview and ‘act’ neutral no matter how they’re feeling inside.
References
Interview, D. (2017). Different Types of Interview. Gyg-coolteacher8.blogspot.com.au. Retrieved 19 July 2017, from http://gyg-coolteacher8.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/different-types-of-interview.html