Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part 1 Getting started in journalism
- Part 2 Writing skills
- Part 3 Understanding the law
- Part 4 Research skills
- 13 Research and finding things
- 14 Facts and figures
- 15 Questions and interviews
- Part 5 Being professional in journalism
- Bibliography
- Further reading
- Index
15 - Questions and interviews
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part 1 Getting started in journalism
- Part 2 Writing skills
- Part 3 Understanding the law
- Part 4 Research skills
- 13 Research and finding things
- 14 Facts and figures
- 15 Questions and interviews
- Part 5 Being professional in journalism
- Bibliography
- Further reading
- Index
Summary
There is a difference between asking questions and conducting an interview. Asking questions is what reporters do all the time. They don't necessarily do interviews all the time. We will deal with questions first.
Questions
A reporter in the middle of a breaking news event, either on the spot where it is happening, or in the office on the telephone, will be busy enough just asking questions and looking for more people to question. He or she will not be fussy about how the questions are asked. It will not matter, for instance, in what order the questions are asked. What will be important is, were they asked? And who was asked? There will be no time, or need, for fancy footwork. Just get the information.
At their core the questions in such a situation will be those we have encountered already – who, what, where, when, why and how, in various ways.
What happened? Who was there? Who was responsible? When was it? Where? How did it happen? Any reason why?
And then, perhaps:
Has it happened before? When was that? What happened on that occasion? Who was involved?
What happens next? When will that be? Why then?
Questions that ask who, when and where usually produce short responses – names, times and places. Unless the names introduce an extra dimension to the story, answers to these questions may be brief.
The what, how and why questions are the ones that are likely to produce more extensive copy.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- So You Want To Be A Journalist? , pp. 317 - 332Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007