A journalistic interview is a conversation, with a difference. Your aim when interviewing someone is to get information from them. Perhaps you are writing a profile on a successful person, or maybe you are trying to learn more about an important issue or event. Either way, an interview is an information-gathering session. Since you may not know the person you are interviewing, you may feel slightly nervous at first. Learning some handy interview techniques will help you to approach an interview with confidence.

How to set up an interview

The first step is to find someone to interview and to schedule the interview with them. If you are writing an article about a particular issue, brainstorm a list of possible people who might have useful things to say about the topic. You may want to interview a range of people with different viewpoints on the subject.

For example, if you are writing about local service delivery protests, you could interview a protestor, the mayor of the town and someone whose shop was damaged in the protests. You would probably get very different information from each of these people.

If you are writing a profile, it is a good idea to choose someone you know a little bit about so you can provide context for the reader. This could be a parent, a sibling, someone you work with or someone you met briefly who left an impact on you. This established relationship is also helpful because the interviewee might be more willing to share information with you, as trust has already been established.

You should find out the person’s contact details and call or email them to set up the meeting. You may need to have a ‘back-up’ in case the person is not available to be interviewed. Be polite when making your request: explain exactly why you are interested in speaking to them and try to set a time and place that is convenient for them. Depending on the situation, you could have phone or video call instead of an in-person interview.

How to prepare for an interview

Research the topic you are interviewing the person about by reading articles or books or by watching videos. The more background information you have, the more focused questions you will be able to ask. If you are writing a profile, you may also want to try to find out more about the person and their profession or interests before interviewing them. You could even speak to their friends and colleagues to find out some information about them: you could include some of this information in your article as well.

Write down a list of around 10 to 15 questions. You may not have time to ask all your questions, but you don’t want to be under-prepared. Put the most important questions at the beginning of the list. Make sure the questions are neatly written or typed and read them over a few times beforehand, so you just need to glance down quickly during the actual interview.

Types of questions to ask

Ask questions that will allow the interviewee to tell a story or give a complex answer. Try to construct questions that open up conversation rather than close it off. This means you should avoid questions that encourage ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. For example:

– What was your experience like growing up in your hometown?
– What is one of the biggest challenges you’ve encountered in your profession and how have you overcome it?
– What advice would you give to young people who are in a similar situation to you?

Make sure your questions aren’t too long or complex. Write down possible follow-up questions too.

How to handle the interview

Whether you are meeting in person or over the phone/ video call, introduce yourself and thank the interviewee for agreeing to speak with you. You can record the interview using a phone or laptop, but remember to ask the interviewee’s permission for this.

Even if you do manage to record the interview, you should still take a notebook and a pen so that you can make notes. Don’t write down every word said, but make some bullet-point notes about important answers.

You can also include other observations in your notes, such as descriptions of the place where you’re interviewing them, as well as the person’s tone of voice or body language. This will help you to add ‘colour’ to your article, as you can include these points where relevant e.g. Does the person push their hair out of their eyes when they are answering a particularly difficult question? Perhaps their office or home has objects and décor that says something about them as a person. These details may be especially useful if you’re writing a profile, in which the reader wants to learn more about the interviewee’s personality.

Your approach to the interview will be influenced by the interviewee’s attitude and response to your questions. Some people love talking (especially about themselves or about a subject they’re passionate about!) and will give quite long answers. In this case, you may have to politely rein them in if they go off topic or if you’re running out of time to ask your most important questions. If you can get a word in, politely remind them of your question or ask your next question.

Other interviewees may give you very short answers or avoid answering certain questions. While you should avoid being too rude, try to ask follow-up questions or repeat the question in a different way.

Follow-up questions are generally a good idea. For instance, if the person interviewed responds to a question and says that service delivery protests will have “positive effects for the local community”, you can ask them to explain exactly those effects will be. Also, be open to asking questions that you have not prepared. Listen carefully to the interviewee’s responses and follow up on any interesting tidbits of information they might let slip!

What to do after the interview

After the interview, transcribe your recording, if you have one. ‘Transcribing’ means typing up interview answers word-for-word. This is important as you should always quote your interviewee accurately. Take your handwritten notes and highlight or circle any important parts. Do the same with the transcribed notes from the recording: choose the most intriguing and useful sections. Using these notes and highlighted parts, you can start planning the structure of your article.

Interviewing is a challenging, but often enjoyable process. You can end up learning a lot about people and subjects you would not normally encounter, and interviews can be the foundation of informative and thought-provoking articles. With practice, patience and a lot of listening, you will gain confidence in interviewing techniques.