I Have Questions

Humans are inquisitive by nature. We, as a species, are gifted with invaluable intellect that comes packaged with the compulsion to question everything – the who, why, when, where, what, and how. It is a beneficial act, the answers more often than not corroborating prior beliefs or expanding the basic knowledge into something more complex.


As a journalist, this interrogative nature comes quite in handy when taking interviews. Interviewing is, put simply, the art of gathering information through social networking and communication. They are a fundamental aspect of journalism. I like to think of it as the final cogwheel in the vast machine of news-reporting – if you leave it out, the machine won’t function and will promptly collapse even after the other parts are in place.

Interviews provide support, stability, and strength to a journalistic article. The testaments of the general public and the people of the society work wonders on the credibility and the extent to which the audience puts their faith in the piece. Think of the #MeToo movement that swept ferociously over the world while stemming from Hollywood. The wide-spread toxic issue of sexual harassment was brought to attention through interviews and recounts of the victims. A tough topic to ask questions on, but they tore open the mask of prejudice and maltreatment.

But here’s the catch: How does one gather the exact quantity and accurate quality of information from a source, no more no less? Dean Nelson, a veteran journalist, in an interview with Wbur spoke at length about the virtuosity of good interviews. Being well-prepared and knowledgeable to some extent about the interviewee to establish a good rapport with them, asking open-ended questions so that the interviewee can elaborate, and framing targeted questions that tackle the aspects the interviewer needs information about are the keys to a good interview (Mullins, 2019).

A successful interview will be laden with valuable information that is hidden among equally appealing but irrelevant information. It is in the job description of a journalist to sift and sort through this and figure out the intended meaning of the source so as to translate it into a plausible and relevant public narrative as a quote (Carpenter, Cepak and Peng, 2017).

Journalistic interviews place heavy importance on accuracy and fairness, and this occurs in all stages, from just spelling the name of the source right and writing their information aptly to phrasing the quotes and perceptions as close to the source’s personal ideology as possible (Amsbary and Powell, 2018). It is in the hands of the journalists to cradle the perspectives, sentiments and emotions of the audience, the source, and the society as a whole with the utmost care.

Asking questions may sound simple and straightforward, but asking the right questions in the right way and in the right time is a skill not everyone hones. As Eugene Lonesco once very rightly said, “It is not the answer that enlightens, it is the question.”



REFERENCE LIST

• Mullins, L., 2019. Want To Know How To Ask Questions? Longtime Journalist Shows How It's Done In New Book. [online] Wbur.org. Available at: <https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/03/08/dean-nelson-interviewing> [Accessed 11 April 2022].

• Carpenter, S., Cepak, A. and Peng, Z., 2017. An Exploration of the Complexity of Journalistic Interviewing Competencies. Journalism Studies, [online] 19(5), pp.2284-2285. Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317826689_An_Exploration_of_the_Complexity_of_Journalistic_Interviewing_Competencies> [Accessed 11 April 2022].

• Amsbary, J.H. and Powell, L. (2018) Interviewing in a Changing World: Situations and Contexts. 2nd edn. Milton: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315113135.