Interview Techniques Report: Comprehensively explaining the way purposes and techniques are

used in the interviews you have analysed.

Interviews use a variety of different purposes and techniques (depending on their subject) to try and
gain as much out of their interviewee/ guest as possible. Before understanding this, we must first
look at the journalistic contexts of interviews e.g. print, television, radio, online, news, sport, feature
writers and editorial, just to name a few.
Journalistic Contexts
Print: This type of interview is often done in private and is not always filmed. This interview type is
put in newspapers, magazines, books and websites. The pros of this is that things can be edited in or
out easily as it is printed words, it can be easier stored for future reference and more than one copy
can distributed. The cons of this is that the words can be changed/removed to what the interviewer
wants which could become a problem for the interviewee and it's not always entertaining to the
reader as many would prefer to have a visual interview where they can see the guest.
Television: This type of interview can be both done rehearsed (for example, an entertainment show
such as The Graham Norton Show were guests are being promoted therefore they rehearse to
reduce mistakes) or not rehearsed (for example, a news/politics show such as The Andrew Marr
Show where he wants to gain information from his guests without them knowing what he is going to
say so they do not create a defence) depending on the interview programming. The pros of
television is that it helps promote the interviewee as it can reach many people at one time, gains
ratings for the show as fans or people wanting to hear what the guest has to say will tune in and you
can see the interview visually. The cons of television is that if live it can go wrong meaning problems
with the interview itself or broadcasting and that the interview would have a time limit due ad
breaks or other scheduling.
Radio: This type of interview can be both done rehearsed (such as an entertainment radio: Heart
Radio) or not rehearsed (such as an sports radio: 5 Live), although it is mostly not rehearsed. The
pros is that it can be done over the phone and broadcasted there and then. The cons is that the
sound quality can be poor, it could go wrong if live and you cannot always listen to it again.
Online: This type of interview can be both done rehearsed (such as a web show) or not rehearsed
(such as a press interview) depending on the interview. The pros of this is that it helps promote the
interviewee, can be edited if needed, gains views for website and you can see the interview. The
cons of this is that the guest may only have a certain amount of time which they need to share with
other online interviews meaning the interview is often short.
News/Sport: These interviews can be done in the ways above.
Feature Writer and Editorial: Is normally the main interview of the show/magazine. An editorial is
the voice of the publication - usually an interpretive piece.
Interview Techniques
Question Types
o Open: This question is most likely to have a long answer and is used when the
interviewer wants more detail. The interviewee gets more freedom and control in
the answer they give. An example would be "What did you do this past month?"An
open question is more likely to be at the start as it allows the interviewee to express
their answer freely and help them become more comfortable in doing so. I can also
help engage them into the interview and allow them to think and interpretive.
o Close: This question is often a simple question yes or no as the answer. This could be
used at the start to help the interviewee into it although a open is more likely. The
interviewer may want a simply answer with not added explanation. An example
would be "Are you ok?"
o Single: These questions are one lined questions, and are used the most as it's easier
for the interviewee to answer. An example is "When did you get here?"
o Multiple: These questions are more than one question in one and are often used
when the interviewer wants more detail, however they are not always answered as
the interview often only remembers one question. The danger of this is that the
interviewer will not get the answers they seek. It's best to use these in the middle of
the interview when the interviewee is more comfortable. An example of this would
be "How is Peter and why did paint the wood blue?"
o Direct: These questions are often one word answers or small phrases that can have a
little explanation such as "Do you think flowers are nice in the winter?"
o Suggestive: These questions often implies that a certain answer should be given in
response, or falsely suggest the question as fact such as "Don't you think flowers are
nice in winter?"
Interview Styling
o Hard News: Trying to get information out of the interviewee. This is often used
politics or crime interviews.
o Combative: This is a battle between the interviewee and the interviewer, however it
does not have to be in a serious interview.
o Light-hearted/Entertainment: A non serious interview.
o Investigative: Crime/Politics/Under covering information. Often used in a
documentary involvement. Links with entertainment as this interest audience,
making them want to know more.
o Promotional: Interviewing a guest in order to positively promote them. Links with
combative and entertainment as many entertainment shows will promote a guest or
famous person and interviews were combative takes place can always help promote
both sides as it can engage the audience.
Structuring
o Introduction: Introducing the interviewee and asking an easy question which is
open. This can help calm nerves of the interviewee and allow them to become
comfortable with a question they can easily answer.
o Developmental Questions: Such as "What was the best bit"? These help guide the
interviewee into the interview and can be quite tough to answer.
o Confidence Building: These come in the middle of the interview where the
interviewer will ask different questions to allow the interviewee to calm and become
confident. They will use things such as laughing, agreeing and nodding with the
interviewee to help with confidence building.
o Key Questions: These are the most important questions the interviewer wants
answering. They can come at any time.
o Wind Up: This is when the interviewer brings the interview to a close. They will ask
questions about the future; "What happens next?"
o Sound-bites: A summary (although not necessarily) of the interview in a few
seconds. Basically short extract from a recorded interview that best concludes the
interview.
o Summary: Summarises/ concludes the interview.
Communication Skills
o Building Rapport: Confidence questions.
o Active Listening: Asking questions about what the interviewee has said and not a
planned question.
o Body Language: What the interviewer is doing when interviewing can suggest the
interviews mood.
Telephone Techniques: Gathering information and obtaining comments. These might be
used before the interview when the researchers would call the guests management prior to
the interview and asks questions over the phone about this interviewee. Obtaining
comments is mostly done on radio but can be done on news also but less likely as visuals are
normally used.
Purposes of interviews
Research.
Enhancement of audience understanding or understanding better.
Informational e.g. presenting information
Interpretive e.g. expressing or explaining opinion, justification and accountability.
Emotional e.g. allowing audience insight to a situation.
Newsnight
i

The first interview I looked at was Newsnight with Jeremy Paxman which aired on 26/06/2012 and is a 15
minutes segment. He interviewed Chloe Smith MP (the treasury minister at the time) who is on the show to
discuss the rise in fuel prices or rather not the rise in fuel. This is a televised news interview. Paxman starts by
introducing Smith and gives her an easy but open single question: "When were you told of this change in
plan?" He uses this easy open question first to allow her to become comfortable and to give a simple
explanation. However when she appears not to be answering it in the way he hoped, he gives her a closed
direct question ("When was the decision taken?") cutting her off to make her give him a straight forward
simple answer. He used this to catch her off guard and to make her forget anything she has planned to say,
making her nervous instead of comfortable, hopefully making her slip up. She however continues to answer
the first question, therefore he repeats his second question quickly "So when were you told then?". He
repeats his question, changing the wording slightly each time. He aggressively repeats the question in order
to make her think that her first answer was wrong, lead her to hopefully change her answer, or by
cause her to keep answering until he gets the exact response that they desire. He repeats some
questions further on in the interview: "Can you please tells us from which department that gap is going
to be made up?" and "Good. Where?". This repeating is the used in the same way as the one above,
he is trying to get her to answer the question. These questions are single direct questions. He starts
to use development questions but does not try to build confidence. He does not do this because he wants
her to feel uncomfortable so that she will tell him what he wants in the hope we will make the interview
easier, however she fights this as she does not want to tell him or the public the truth. He begins to fire
multiple questions, some direct and some suggestive. An example is a multiple closed question: "Did it
happen today? Can't remember?" He uses this because he wants to intimidate her and shows that he is
trying to interpret what she is saying, with the second question being suggestive and aggressive. He
is now combating with her in order to find the truth. Active listening is moderate as he fires out
questions hoping that she would answer then with a straight forward answer. Although he seems to
ignore anything that isn't relevant he must be listening as he becomes investigative and combative,
asking her why and how to the things that she says. He does this because he is trying to get relevant
information out of her that the public should have a right to know and wants to know for example
she states that "It isn't appropriate." "Why isn't it appropriate?" is his argument. He is now
developing his argument towards her and asking questions in order to be somewhat investigative
such as "You're coming here to defend a change in policy and you can't even tell me what the
change in policy was." He uses hard questions such as "I'm not asking for a running commentary, I
was asking when you were told. You were told sometime today clearly - was both lunch or after
lunch?"and "All I'm asking is when you were told, I'm not even going to ask you who told you but
when where you told about the change in policy was?" He uses these because he wants the
information now and is being blunt about it. He shows aggressive body language to suggest to her
that he isn't playing around. He then uses a suggestive question: "Is it hard for you to defend a
policy you don't agree with?" When she states she does, he argues with "You didn't in May." He
reads out her statement from May which she clearly does not agree with the policy and he asks
"What happened?" When she doesn't fully answer the question he repeats again. What he is trying
to do here is make her sound as if she is in the complete wrong, this will make her hopefully panic
over her words and tell the truth. It also shows that he has researched before the interview. He gives
her figures from the day of the interview and from her speech in May about fuel prices which has a
huge gap between them and asks "Did you just get the sums wrong?" Again trying to make her tell
the truth and slip up. He wants to help the audience gain more understanding of why this has
happened and why the costs have changed. However she argues that they were answers to two
different questions. He starts to conclude the interview with a summary; "We are clear that you are
looking for now is five hundred odd million pounds, and you say that various governments
departments are under spending or though you are unable to tell us which ones, presumably you do
know but are choosing not to tell us, is that correct?"He says this in such a way that she would agree
with him and in fact she almost does. It is suggestive and long, making her forget what he said at the
start but wanting to say yes to "is that correct?"He then asks, "Can you please confirm to us that
your number one priority of your government is reducing the deficit? " In which she says yes it is. He
questions her with "That's the number one priority? [...]Is this some sort of joke? How can you
possibly have as your number one priory cutting the deficit when you choose to spend and under
spend in funding a tax cut?" He combativing with her argument and letting the audience know what
she is saying could be false. The use of "is this a joke?" is a close direct question which is aimed to
throw her back and make her try and figure out what to say without appearing weak. There is no
formal wind up. However his final questions are simple direct ones "Do you ever wake up in the
morning and think my god what am I going to be told today." In which she replies we all understand
that, seeming confident. He is heard huffing at her annoyingly as if it is just too painful to listen too
however which clearly startles her back out of control. "Do you think you are incompetent?" He asks
as the final question but she does not answer the way he hoped, however he ran out of time to
argue against it. He used this question to leave a lasting impact on both Chloe and the audience. He
does not summarise the interview but concludes by thanking her. The key question of this interview
is "When were you told?" Moreover, he doesn't get a full answer this question which in my opinion
doesn't matter for Paxman. I believe this to be so as the purpose of this interview from his point of
view was for it to be informative, investigative, interpretive and to enhancement of audience
understanding better. He wanted to show the weakness in the government at that time and gain
understanding to why it was spending or not spending. Although he did not get the full answers he
want, he was still able somewhat make Chloe uncomfortable, making the government
uncomfortable too.

The One Show
ii

The second interview I looked at was The One Show with Matt Baker and Alex Jones which aired on
09/09/2014. They interviewed Rick Stein (a TV chef who is" famous for fish") who is on the show to discuss
his career, life, friendship with Lloyd and his new book (which the show is trying to promote). This is a
televised entertainment promotional interview. The introduction is longer than Newsnight and more
exciting with clapping and smiles and " Good to see you Rick. Lovely to have you here " as they are
trying to make Rick seems wonderful. The whole show is 30 minutes long and the interview is split
up throughout. The first question they asked is a multiple open question, "so that was your first
television appearance [...] how did they find you or where did they find you?" This is a simple easy
question that related to the cut away they showed of Rick on a television show a while ago and a
question he can easily answer. Active listening is clear as Rick says: "Won a little award for the best
restaurant in England" - "A little award? That's quite a big one."This helps promote Rick, making him
seem very talent towards the audience and shows that they will ask questions about what he says,
not just planned ones. The atmosphere of the interview is more laid back then the Newsnight as the
interviewers joke around with Rick as he says; "so when he called me Nick..." "He was winding you
up there." "He was winding me up there." Their body language is more open and relaxing, showing
that it is more of a conversation with a friend rather than integration. It is clear to some that this
may have been rehearsed as the interviewers ask Rick a question related to the cut away every time
they come back but they do it in such a way that it seems to the audience that it was not
planned;"And Rick you were saying that you were on a plane back from [Australia] and you were
sitting next to a guy who was taking part in the Invictus games?" - Linked the question from the
cutaway to Rick's experience. Asking a question that wasn't necessary researched "And did you find
out which event he was competing in the games?" They are trying to build up confidence by asking
direct but open questions so that Rick can speak his mind. Unlike Newsnight, Rick does most of the
speaking and takes control. This is because he is being promoted unlike Chloe who is being
somewhat interrogated. The interviews conclude their bit about the Invictus games by say "It's going
to be a great four days, we are looking forward tomorrow."Rick is also excited for this after meeting
the competitor and agreeing with him helps him become more comfortable, ready for them to ask
him the key questions. "So you were over in Australia to publish your new book: Fish and Shellfish
[...] this is your 20th book, it must be hard [...] why is this one different?"Here they are promoting
him, making the audience want to know about his book. "Just put it in a pan and fry it.""So there
really should be one page in your new book then?" Listening to what he had said and jokes with him,
making him more open to questions. "We all love watching you on tellie, you do these colonial
expeditions you call them. You learn all these different techniques but what is it about food that
breaks down all those barriers?" Here is a key open question but also a wind up question as they
make him sound wonderful before they ask him, making him more likely to answer it in a positive
way. They then turn to the camera and promote his book, giving the audience the release date. They
interview two at the same time. "It's quite a creative you role you got then really isn't it?" This is a
suggestive question, making him agree with them which will help with his promotion. The interview
moves location with the sitting being the kitchen. Welcoming, engaging, friendly. "What other fish
are making a comeback Rick?" is the final wind up question and conclusion to the interview. This is a
simple one that Rick can answer. They summarises by thanking him with a final promotion of his
book and tells the audience about the next show and finally ask "Can we taste them now?" They
didn't always asked questions but instead were saying something suggestive that would promote
conversation. They nodded, said yeah, agreed with Rick, they were laid back, smiley, happy, laughing
and were having a good time leaving the audience wanting to buy his book.
JoBlo
iii

The third interview I looked at was JoBlo with Jo which aired on 24/05/2014. They interviewed Elle
Fanning (a actress ) who is on the show to discuss and promote her new film Maleficent. This is a online
entertainment promotional interview. The interview is less than 4 minutes long due to the time each person
could interview her as she promotes her film, therefore all questions asked are key questions. This would
have not been rehearsed but it is likely Elle was asked similar questions before so would have had an answer
prepared. He does not introduce Elle but asks her a simple open multiple question that relates to her film:
"First of all you know that every little girl has their idea of a Disney princess, what was yours and
how did this change it?"This helps to build confidence and allow her to take control of the interview.
"You and Angelina Jolie which I didn't expect, what was that like, that experience working with her
as someone who is pretty much a legend." The question before helps Elle to move onto this one as
she had more confidence and was willing to share her personal experiences. The question is open
direct (all though he is being suggestive with the idea Jolie is a legend) and the fact the interviewer
referred to someone she worked with as a legend it made Elle feel special and wanted to give out
information. This allowed the interviewer to ask more about Angelina as he asked "Was there ever
like that kind of issue like they are always in that character or does she break out on set?" This
question could have been hard for Elle to answer if it was the first question but because the
interview had build up confidence and ask developmental questions she was able to relax and have
fun. The interviewer resurged her with "That's kind of cool." and his body language is very relaxed
and he uses her hands to express himself which later rubs off on Elle as she goes from having her
back straight and close to slouching back and using her hands. "What was your process for you to
find your way precedes maybe watching the original, was there anything else you approached this
with?"He uses a final multiple question to wind up the interview and help the audience understand
more about Elle and her character. His final question is "How much of that do you find in yourself?"
This a direct open question that allows Elle to take control and conclude the interview. He listened
to her as well as interacts and was able to get the answers he wanted in a lot of detail.
5Live: Football Daily
iv

The final interview I looked at was 5Live: Football Daily with Mark Pougatch which aired on
16/09/14. He interviews a caller, Antony, about the first match of the seasons Champion League:
Borussia Dortmund vs. Arsenal (2-0) and his reaction about the losing team (Arsenal). This is a sports
radio interview and would have been un-rehearsed and live on air. Mark had just interviewed
another caller, John, and picks up from his questions with Antony. Mark introduce Antony (who is an
Arsenal Fan) and gives him an opening question which was linked to what he was talking about with
John previously; "He's spent the money but is it in the right part of the field?" (referring to Arsenal's
manager.) This is a closed direct question which helps ease Antony into the interview since the
interview with John become very tense. Antony tells Mark that he believes that a certain player
should be removed from the team in which Mark replies, "Well he's captain now Antony." This
shows that he is actively listening to him, he allows Antony to take some control in this way. He
begins to ask a few development questions and build up confidence. He asks him another open but
multiple question so that he was able to speak his mind. "For Arsenal fans, what has changed in the
big game, last year they got battered away from home against the top teams [...]what is the
difference between this year to last?" However the problem with this is that Antony didn't really
answer both questions as he states that Arsenal should change the player structure. This is because
the questions were shrouded by extra details from Mark who was asking unrehearsed questions as
well as explaining to the audience about the team's past. It was also very rushed. However it showed
that he clearly researched about the team for the show. He does this again in his next question in
which he builds rapport. "Are either of the holding mid fielders [players names] good enough? Is it
not the reality that the deficiency which were exposed at Stanford bridge [...] which should have
been addressed over the summer, have not been addressed? is that not the reality?" However this
time his voice is more calmer and less rushed. This allowed Antony to become more relaxed and gain
confidence as he was able to answer the questions in detail and take control of the interview,
allowing Antony to share his views. It also shows some combativeness between Mark and Antony as
Mark tries to encourage Antony to talk more with that question and his disagreeing opinions. Mark
finally asks his key question which is a multiple but closed. "Antony you are obviously an Arsenal fan
right? You know when you get up in the morning right? You think to yourself, do you know what?,
finished top four and we will probably finish in the top 6 in the Champions League and that's our
season?" It is somewhat suggestive also. Mark does this so that Antony agrees with him and would
give him a smaller answer so that he can go to his wind up question of "No excitement?" A simple
direct open question that allows Antony to share his final thoughts about the team's future. Mark
concludes with "Antony thanks for giving us a call." This was an audio interview so I am unable to
comment on body language.


i
Wayne Smith. (2012). Paxman interviews hapless minister Chloe Smith on Newsnight 26.06.2012 -
Excruciating to watch . Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bddWaHuxTzc. Last accessed Sep 2014.
ii
The One Show. (2014). The One Show. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04gmj8y/the-one-
show-09092014. Last accessed Sep 2014.
iii
JoBlo Movie Trailers. (2014). Elle Fanning Interview - Maleficent (2014) JoBlo.com HD . Available:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8dzF5Emq5E. Last accessed Sep 2014.
iv
BBC. (2014). Unknown. Available: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/5lfd/5lfd_20140916-
2225a.mp3. Last accessed Sep 2014.