The profession of a journalist is difficult and not suitable for everyone. The ability to ask questions to the interlocutor so as to get reliable and sincere answers is acquired over the years, but its beginnings are laid even on the bench of the institute.
Necessary
- - pen;
- - notebook;
- - Dictaphone.
Instructions
Step 1
Prepare ahead of time. It is extremely unprofessional to go to a press conference or interview without preliminary preparation. Find as much information as possible about the person you are going to interview, specify names, dates and titles. Be clear about the main question that determines the topic of the conversation, and try to understand it so as not to look like a layman.
Step 2
Simplify your wording. The simpler the question, the more likely you are to get a clear answer. Confusing questions I am tripping not only with your interlocutor, but also with you. Any story can fit into five basic questions: who, what, where, when, how, why. By asking them in this sequence, you will certainly get a complete picture of events and do not miss out on important information.
Step 3
Do not limit yourself to the topic of discussion. If you feel that the interviewee is ready to provide interesting information that is not related to the topic of the interview, do not interrupt him and listen to the end. Subsequently, when writing an article, you will only rejoice at your patience.
Step 4
Avoid cliché questions. There are more than a dozen of them in journalism today. They should be avoided by any means, because by asking a question-stamp, you will receive exactly the same answer, which does not carry exactly any information.
Step 5
Start with secondary questions. If the first question of the interview becomes the most important for the whole conversation, you can put an end to it. You will be answered briefly and without emotion, and further attempts to clarify the situation will fail.
Step 6
Alternate open-ended and closed-ended questions. Open ones allow the interviewee to express themselves in full, closed ones are clearly set and require a negative or affirmative answer. The development of the entire conversation will depend on the sequence of questions.
