12 Interview Techniques for Good and True Journalism
Interview Techniques The interview itself is an activity that is deliberately carried out to obtain information from an informant who is usually referred to as a resource person. While the interview technique is the ability to find news from a source or a source.
Interview technique is one of the things that must be owned and mastered by a journalist. His job as a news seeker of course requires him to always be in the field, which of course will inevitably have to deal with interviews and news coverage. That is the reason the interview technique is important for a news seeker.
In mastering interview techniques, it turns out that a journalist is also required to master basic interviewing skills.
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This is because it is skills in the interview that become a reference for someone who is competent or not in their field. Some of the basic interview skills include:
- Understand the meaning and purpose
- Master the topic
- Able to organize interview organization
- Able to detect the suitability of news with projections
- News to write
Good and Correct Interview Techniques in Journalism
Of course, before conducting an interview, you must first know and understand the purpose of your interview.
If not, how will you later master the topic of the material, moreover you are required to be able to organize and organize your own reporting activities.
That is why, before discussing further about interview techniques, we first discuss the importance of interviewing skills.
As we discussed earlier, the interview is an attempt to get news or important information from the source.
By going directly to the source, it will create a feeling of satisfaction with the results obtained.
In addition, if we master the technique, it is not impossible if the informant feels comfortable and is happy to tell what he knows.
Here are some of these interview techniques:
1. Asking permission directly
Try to ask permission directly from the source. Do not go through third parties or writing. This shows that there is a sense of respect from a news seeker towards news informants.
In addition, asking for permission directly will also make us more aware of what the potential sources will look like, this will help in preparing all the interests of news searches. You can ask permission a few days before the interview starts.
2. Prepare questions
Interviews don’t always go according to plan. There are times when an incident must make us work right away, aka spontaneity. If this is the case, then you have to rack your brains quickly.
You must be able to prepare weighty questions according to the conditions at that time. This is also a benchmark for how professional you are in the world of journalism.
3. Attractive appearance
Some say that first impressions are important when meeting people. So there is nothing wrong if you apply this one interview technique when you are going to do all the work.
By looking attractive, people around you will feel comfortable and feel at home talking to you for a long time.
4. Make a good impression on the resource person
One of them can be given a good impression through the way you look like the previous technique. In addition, you also need to pay attention to the way you talk and your attitude towards other people.
Holding fast to this old principle “if you want to be respected by others, then respect yourself first”. This can help you to be more confident.
5. Pay attention to what the resource person says
This is also necessary and important for you to do to give a sense of comfort when the source conveys the news.
Indirectly, by making them feel needed, they will share everything they know, even some information you didn’t ask.
But make no mistake, this information could be useful later, yes. So, study this interview technique carefully, yes.
6. Introduce your identity
Do not let you forget this one thing. In simple terms, it is unlikely that someone will be happy to tell stories with people they don’t even know. So, don’t forget to introduce yourself, okay?
7. Purpose of the interview
Previously, you also had to understand what the purpose of the interview you were doing was. This is to help you master the interview techniques and interviewing skills needed at that time.
8. Start with light questions
Avoid heavy questions for first impressions. It would be very fatal if you suddenly asked something important.
At least do the pleasantries first. Except, if you’re doing spontaneous coverage, you can shoot points straight away to get news quickly.
9. Avoid complicated questions
Try when conducting the interview you have prepared questions that are not too complicated to be answered by the interviewee. Usually convoluted questions will confuse the interviewee.
10. Prepare stationery
Of course, stationery is very important for you to prepare in advance before conducting an interview, for stationery here, of course, to record all the answers that come from the interviewee.
If it’s not possible to jot down everything, make sure you jot down the important stuff. However, there are more practical ones, such as using a tape recorder and summarizing everything when you’re done.
11. Good at drawing conclusions
From all the question and answer sessions, you have to be good at drawing conclusions about what you can get from the interview session. You could say, this is the main heart of all the interviewing techniques above.
12. Thank you
After everything is done, in closing make sure you say thank you very much for the interview that has been done.
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Those are some good and true interview techniques in journalistic research. Hope this helps, and good luck!
