Articles
Search:

Home | Business | Small Business



Secret Interview Tactics of Journalists







You've done the work, and now a reporter wants to talk to you. You probably think the interview is the easiest part of the process. But you'd be wrong.

Reporters need to get a story, and often they won't stop if they think they are on to something big. That's why you need to brush up on your interview skills, before your faced with the big day.

Here are some of the secrets journalists use to get you to talk more, and how you can make the most of your interview time.

1. From the get-go, take the lead. When a reporter calls you to be interviewed, don't be afraid to ask questions before you get started. Who do you represent? What's the focus or slant of the story? Are you interviewing anyone else? What's your deadline? These questions will give you information to prepare.

2. Allow yourself some time to think. No reporter actually thinks a person just stop what they are doing to be interviewed. But often, the interviewee thinks that's the case - and when he or she does, the reporter can get some 'off the cuff' answers that look and sound juicy but may put the interviewee in a bad light. Arrange a mutually convenient time to get back to the reporter, just to get all your ducks in a row.

3. Silence is golden. Silence is a tactic reporters use to get you to keep talking. And that often means saying things you may not really want to say. When you're done answering the question, stop. Allow for the silence and if the reporter wants more information, he or she will ask for it.

4. Holding a mirror. Some journalists will use a technique called mirroring, which can help an interviewee feel comfortable. But getting too comfortable may allow you to blurt out something you normally wouldn't say. If you are finding a reporter mimicking you in verbally and nonverbally, you may want to take your time answering or changing your position.

5. Throw away questions. Many reporters have what's called 'throw away questions' that they ask that really mean nothing to the story. These can be used to feel an interviewee out.

6. Pretending to know. Some journalists will ask question that make you think they know more than they really do. If the reporter has made a false assumption, speak up. If not, don't help the journalist confirm it unless you've made a conscious choice to do so.


Information and Articles: http://www.mastersmba.com

Providing Information on various topics, please browse our other Articles for more informative resources, we house information on every topic imaginable so regardless of your needs you can be assured to find the answer here. If you wish to reprint this on your own website, simply click the "Web Version" in the right menu, and you are presented with a pre-formatted document to use.

A lot of the information is written by the Master Article team, and published exclusively on the MastersMBA.com website, and we do our best to research all information to ensure it's as accurate as possible. However at times we also publish documents given to us by other sources, we do examine these documents to ensure they are as accurate and correct as possible however at times they discuss highly specialized fields making it hard to authenticate the validity of every fact in the document. These are written by specialists in their respective fields, and we do trust their integrity and judgment however it's always a good idea when doing any research to consult a number of sources and form your own conclusion based on a number of view points. Also if you are looking for Google Chrome Extensions you can check out that link.

RSS

You can click the XML Icon Above to Read Small Business Articles Via RSS!

Design by SEO Info: SEO Forum

Providing Articles on everything from Credit