Interview Techniques ^__^

when someone says the words "Question Types", in the journalism industry this means what types of questions have been produced for the best possible answers that you can gather for your piece, whether that be open/closed questions, single questions, multiple questions, direct questions or suggestive questions.

open questions:
open question sare basically questions that will in turn give a more developed answer on the subject matter which will help you be able to gather better quality of information that you will need for your piece ie. "How involved are you in the stories themselves. Do you go to the extremes of dressing up like characters from the story?"
closed questions:
closed questions are the exact opposite of open questions which means that they give a simple and direct answer without much information which can be hard to work with, but they are definitely needed in all interviews to open the interview and close it, usually on a light-hearted note. "what is your favourite fantasy/sci-fi book?"
single questions:
single questions are just that, single, one questions that give you an answer on one subject or part of the subject and only that. you can get a great development answer from this type of question but it can also be limited depending on what your piece is about and the question itself. an example of this type of question is "which character do you aspire to be like?"
multiple questions:
again, multiple questions have the opposite affect of single questions and can be diverse and give a range of answers that essentially all mold together to come up with a detailed opinion answer for the piece. these types of questions for the purpose of interview techniques, can be great to use and very effective; "what do you think of people's attitude towards sci-fi/fantasy fans? has it become more popular? do you think that the perceptions of fantasy/sci-fi are changing?"
direct questions:
direct questions are, most of the time, the most hard hitting questions that can bring out more emotion and engage more with the interviewee and gain an insight that nobody knew was there before. they get straightto the point and can help when you come up with your own opinion; "why did you decide to be in this business if you knew what it entailed? you can see how some people would think that as being brought upon by your own means."
suggestive questions:
a suggestive question is one that implies a certain answer that should be given in response, or falsely presents a preassumption on a matter which is turn accepted as a fact. these types of questions are usually asked by interviewers who like to bring out answers that most people would hate to give out. an example of this is a personal question that someone may not want to give out but in turn tries to and a misconception is given because the interviewee is trying to word it so it doesnt sound like something it isnt, but ends up being just that.

there are different styles of interview techniques that can increase and diverse the points that you are trying to get across in an effective way, whether that be hard news, combative news, light-hearted news, and entertainment news.

hard news:
hard news is the kind of fast paced news that usually appears on the front page of newspapers. stories that fall under this category are ones that very often deal with issues and topics on business, politics and global news. what defines hard news as a whole isnt necessarily based on the subject matter, but the way that a story is being reported. some people might call a news story thats heavily reported on a subject matter that is necessarily softer ie. entertainment as being hard news bcause of the approach to the subject.
combative news:
combative news is the type of news that in some ways is similar to hard news, in the way that it can be fast paced and hard hitting on subect matters, but it mainly focuses on disagreeing with a subject matter and giving its own interview style on the oppsite side to what has been said, to show a dispute and disagreement to what has been said. these types of interviews are eager to get the information in which the journalist in turn believes is right.
light-hearted news:
this type of interview technique when it comes to giving news which is light-hearted, means adding a little humour to the questions and using more of a softer approach to a subject matter which in turn will give an entertainment feel to the piece and the answers will seem easy but also informative. here is an example of a show which uses light-hearted questions and language to gain an easy interview with the answers that were wanted in the beginning: entertainment news techniques for interview styles is more in the way of light-hearted news, given the fact that the interview techniques can be informal, but at the same time the interview can also be formal. Alan Carr: Chatty Man is an example of the type of interview technique. there is humour and conversational talk throughout each interview, yet it is turned around quite easily so that questions that are needed to be answered can be. if we are looking at a news programme, an example of this type of news is the children's programme Blue Peter.

Strengths & Weaknesses of the Interview Techniques ^__^

when it comes to the various interview techniques, there is always strengths and weaknesses that come along with each one. sometimes doing the unconventional can be the right thing.
BODY LANGUAGE: all interviews need to be conducted with great body language. if your interviewee feels that you are not interested in the topic being discussed and if they feel that you look like you want to be somewhere else, you won't get a good interview and they will most likely feel the need to close up and not answer any questions with someone like that. however, if you are welcoming, smile and friendly before starting the interview, sitting straight and keeping eye contact and nodding/agreeing at the appropriate moments, it will encourage your interviewee to open up more, feel more relaxed and want to tell you more about what they know.

APPROACH TO QUESTIONS: when approaching certain questions during an interview that may require some sensitivity ie. the hard hitting questions, the lead up is the most important part, followed by how you handle the situation. if you approach a question that may require some sensitivity and awareness, getting straight to the point and catching the interviewee off guard will ensure that you dont get a solid answer that you need and the interviewee will become closed off and not want to answer any questions that relate to that particular subject in the interview. doing this may work sometimes but that depends on the issue at hand. however, if you portray your eagerness in a subtle way during the lead up to the question and and start off by telling them what you know in a friendly manner, they will seem more open to get their side across and develop more on the subject.

OPENING & CLOSING INTERVIEWS: opening and closing an interview on a positive note is crucial for future interviews that may need to be conducted with that person or to produce contacts with that person and other members in the same league that they are in, in terms of the subject and/or job base. opening an interview with heading straight into asking the questions will take them off guard and make them seem quite agitated and nervous. whereas, if you were to open an interview on a positive anf friendly note by asking them how their day has been and smiling and telling them a bit about yourself in turn, will make them seem more relaxed and feel positive and ready to answer any question that comes up. similarities in closing an interview apply also. if you close an interview on a positive note with a friendly smile and showing an eagerness to interview them again and keep them as a contact if anything ever came up again, will make your interviewee feel more comfortable with how the interview went and will want to be interviewed by you again in the future. however, if you close and interview without a hand shake, a smile and by just leaving without saying thankyou and paying them a compliment, they may feel that they have done something wrong and will feel very uncomfortable with the situation. the strengths and weaknesses of open and closed questions:

• open questions gather the relevant information needed and the questions being asked will collect enough information of a broader detail to get the best possible answers for your piece.
• a disadvantage of using an open question; the interviewee can sometimes derail from the question and talk in detail about something else that is although relevant to the subject matter, isn't relevant to the question being asked.
• closed questions are great interview starters and a great way to end an interview and can be left and started on a positive and easy note, ready for the more in-depth questions that will come along as the interview progresses.
• a disadvantage of using a closed question; they aren't really that good to use a lot of throughout interviews because they are mainly based on yes or no answers and won't get the information that is needed.

Purpose of Interviews ^__^

there are many different purposes as to do interviews which include the following; Research, Understanding, Inform, Interpretive and Emotional. here is a little insight into the purpose of each of the types of interviews...
Research:
the purpose of research when it comes to doing an interview, is to show the person that you are interviewing that you know a little bit about who they are, what they do and what it entails and it shows your interest in the subject matter being discussed. research also helps you to come up with effective and knowledgable questions that will give you the answers you need with a greatd detail of information in order to make the piece that you are doing become more diverse with a better insight to the subect, where you can then develop on that knowledge. it includes, discovering, developing and interpreting what you have been given.
Understanding:
when it comes to understanding in interviews, you have to be able to know what you are talking about on the subject and understand what is being given to you so that you can work with it in your own way. once you are able to understand the subject you are going with and where it will lead you to, you can create an effective piece which will inform to the highest of expectations.
Inform:
another way of saying inform, is to say information and what information you will be using when it comes to beig able to do what you have to do. in turn, this information will be able to give more of an insight when the finished product has been produced and given out for people to see. you can inform people by word of mouth, but in the case of interviewing, the questions that you produce need to be able to give answers that will clearly tell what is needed for the subject matter, with will help with the informing of the subject even more and make the piece as a whole clearer to comprehend.
Interpretive:
what this basically means when it comes to interviewing, is putting the knowledge that you have gathered into a way in which presents the information in a factual way that was meant to come across in the interview and basing your opinion on what has been said to come up with your own interpreation of the matter at hand.
Emotional:
being able to present an emotional side to an interview by asking questions that are hard hitting and will pull out extra knowledge from the interviewee that they may not want to have given or could take them by surprise, adds a depth to the piece and the subject matter and their reaction that wont be expected is what will make your piece seem to have more of a feeling that the people will be able to understand.

Journalistic Context ^__^

these are examples of different areas and interview techniques in the media and journalism industry; print, television, radio, online, podcasts, news, sport, editorial. Here is an explanation as to what they are and how they relate to the journalism industry...

Print:

the print side of journalism is specifically the magazines and newspapers side of the industry. print can also be in the form of tabloids and documents. there are many sectors in the print side of the business, including designer, developer, programmer, web editor etc., with many job roles in TV and radio being in this part of the industry too ie. director, producer, editor. an example of a newspaper is the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/). Print was one of the very first journalistic techniques used and can be traced back as far as 1975. however, with technology and tv based journalism becoming more prominent, the future of print based journalism could dwindle down.

Television:

television is said to be the most influential medium for journalism and is the primary source to get the news across to people. television is dominated by visuals to news stories and sound which is an effective way to get viewership for news. the television side of journalism is also known as broadcast journalism. an example of this is
Radio:

radio was the first form of medium for broadcast journalism. radio advertising was later used to to pay for programmes which were pioneered and aired on radio shows. nowadays, television has taken over both radio and print based journalism as the main source of news broadcast. radio shows are mostly music based nowadays and less about giving out the news, unless they are high brow radio stations such as the BBC. in the past, radio was all about broadcasting the news and now music is added to attract more of a diverse audience and to separate news stories to keep the listeners interested.

Online:

online journalism is referred to as defining the facts via internet based sources ie. websites. even though most radio, tv and print based journalism modes now have a website to add to what they already have, there are still some online journalism websites that are ust made for online use and not tv or radio etc. as of 2009, audiences for online journalism continue to grow, the future of online journalism looks bleak due to financial worries. online journalists believe that advertising is likely to be the best revenue for supporting the production of online news. the official online journalism blog is put up as an example: http://onlinejournalismblog.com/.

Podcasts:

a podcast is a series of media files that are released episodically or downloaded through web syndication. the mode of delivery variates podcasts from other means of accessing media files over the internet; direct download link or streamed webcast. from this, files are directly stored onto a computer/laptop and/or another portable device such as an iPod and then then can be used freely. the formats in which these are downloaded in are either mp3's, jpeg's, og vorbis etc. an example of a website where podcasts can be uploaded onto is http://soundcloud.com/.

News:

news is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented through either print, broadcast, internet or word of mouth, which is what all these ournalistic contexts centre around. it involves gathering pieces of factual information together in order to create a great news story that is both current and breaking news. this is the main format used in journalism, closely followed by sports news stories which are completely different altogether as they focus on one subject and news as a whole focuses on global topics on a daily basis.

Sport:

sport is a type of journalistic context that isnt used as often as regular news and is usually placed at the end of news programmes because it isnt necessarily relevant to global and influential topics that affect everyone on a daily basis. it is an essential element of journalism but isnt that important.

Editorial:

editorial in terms of journalistic context is essentially an opinion piece that is written by the senior editorial staff and/or publisher for a newspaper or a magazine. editorials are usually unsigned and may be supposed to reflect the opinion of the periodical. an example of this is the same example for print (the Guardian), which is a great example of an editorial piece of journalism. editorials may also be in the form of editorial cartoons ie. political cartoons which are put in to add humour to the subject and opinion given.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Voxpops:

the term voxpop derives from the latin phrase "voice of the people" and is basically a way of gathering an opinion on a subject matter and collecting views from the public. the voxpop technique is used typically in news areas and it is heard to find a news interview that doesnt contain voxpops in the journalism industry. this type of interview would be informal and conversational.

Red Carpet:

this is an example of a red carpet interview: (). a red carpet interview is very light hearted and conversational between the interviewer and the interviewee. the questions are mostly quick and easy to answer but get straight to the point when gathering the answers needed.

Press Conference:

press conferences can be formal events and informal events depending on what the subject matter is being discussed. events that involve the government and high brow news; political events, are always formal events and featured as hard hitting news. for the informal side to this kind of interview, events such as comic con panels, they are very conversational and add that light heartedness needed whilst also getting the information that is needed.

Political:

political interviews are very formal based and quit hard hitting with the questions that are given for the interviewee to answer. these types of interviews are mostly used when dealing with government and economic issues that affect everyone. an example of this interview type: ().

News:

high brow news interviews are very formal and mostly political and economical based. they use hard hitting and in-depth answers and the interviewer will be very resourceful in getting the information they need. light hearted news stories are the opposite. these types of interviews are informal and conversational whilst still being able to get the information they need, but just with a different approach to the situation.

Active Listening and Building Rapport ^__^

active listening is when the interviewer listens and responds to the answers given in the interview. methods of this can include nodding and smiling in agreement and keeping eye contact without staring at them. a way to keep up is to make sure that the question that follows the answer is follows on and seems interesting and connected to the subject.

here is an example of an interview which shows active listening...


during this interview, there is evidence of comfortable body language, especially by the way that they are sat during the interviewee; edge of the seat makes it apparent that they are enjoying the interview and wanting to know more. Holly and Philip develop their questions from the answers given which in turn helps the interviewee relax more and have an open approach to answering what they wanted, making it seem they have the advantage whilst giving the information needed. facial expressions change throughout the interviewee at the appropriate moments, in a correct manner.

Building Rapport:

building rapport is where you use the questions you have developed and your body language to help build a trust and understanding between you and the person you are interviewing. even if you don't agree with the opinions given by the interviewee, you can still build a successful rapport. a great example of this would be Politicians; most of the time they don't agree with each other yet they still have a good relationship during interviews. examples of interviewers who are great at rapport building include Jonathon Ross and Alan Carr.

here are two interviews they have done...

Communication Skills. ^__^

body language can make a huge differences when giving out interviews. positive body language can help your interviewee feel more relaxed and more open to answer the questions that they wouldn't have otherwise. negative body language has the opposite effect and can make them feel closed up and will make for a dull interview.

here is an example of an interview with negative body language...

during this interview he he has back turned to her making her feel isolated from the interview session, whilst he interviews someone else. he isn't interacting with her and making her feel comfortable and by speaking to her in a way that makes her feel less comfortable than she already is, makes her feel less important.
if he were to interview her in a different way, a start would be to speak to her more politely and apologize when she asks him to speak to her and position the seating area in a way that puts Russell in the middle surrounded by his interviewees, so they can all communicate well with each other. getting her involved in other interviews will make her feel more comfortable and more involved.

here is an example of an interview that demonstrates good interview skills...

this interview deposits good interview skills because it is very laid back and in a comfortable surrounding area which will help the person being interviewed, in this case Taylor Momsen, feel more comfortable. at the start Holly and Philip compliment her and are very chatty and have a conversational start to the conversation, which makes her feel more at ease. as the interview progresses they listen closely and develop questions effectively off the answers she gives in return, making it apparent that they are interested in what she is doing in her life and her opinions on different subjects that the answers led from.