Interview as a genre of journalism, and now content marketing

An interview is a literary presentation of a journalist’s conversation with a person whose thoughts, comments or explanations on certain topical issues of life are of public interest. This is a joint work of a journalist and a person giving information.

There is an interview-dialogue – a conversation with one person according to the “question-answer” scheme and an interview-monologue – a journalist poses a question, asks a topic, and the interlocutor tells. The task of the journalist here is to convey the story as accurately as possible, while preserving the characteristics of the speech of the person who gives the interview.

The quality and nature of the interview questions depends on the topic of the conversation. Some of the questions arise during the conversation, but the main ones should be prepared in advance, taking into account what exactly the society is interested in. The art of a journalist to direct the conversation in the direction of the problem that interests him.

Questions should be:

• short, concise,
• clear,
• “open”, i.e. be formulated in such a way that the interlocutor does not have the opportunity to answer “yes” or “no”.

Answers should be:

• deployed,
• justified.

Interviews can be both individual and collective, when several people express their opinion on the issues raised at once.

During the conversation, the journalist clarifies certain points, asks questions, makes sure that the conversation goes in the right direction. Asks for more details on issues of greatest interest. Those. the journalist strives to make the conversation meaningful and interesting for both.

If a person has nothing to say, it is not worth starting a conversation. And if a journalist is not prepared, does not know what will be discussed, does not know how to formulate questions in such a way as to interest the interlocutor, does not know how to be relaxed, frank, then the interview will not turn out to be meaningful and interesting.

The interview is printed in the media for different purposes:

It is very important for a journalist to accurately state the recording of the interview in order to avoid twists, errors, and inaccuracies. You can agree on the material with the interlocutor after it has been processed. Transfer the interview to paper without delay, while its details are stored in memory.

What is the art of the interview?

The initial stage of the conversation

The introduction should be short (without too much insistence) the journalist should

all this needs to be thought out in advance and build your speech in such a way as to arouse the interlocutor’s interest in what has been said, the desire to cooperate. You need to pay attention to the wording of the questions. They must be understandable to the interlocutor. Well, if the first questions show the competence of the journalist, his readiness for the interview. When the interlocutor feels that the journalist knows the matter, prepared for the conversation, the interviewee has a more serious attitude towards the journalist. The interlocutor is more willing to share his thoughts, problems.

IMPORTANT: The first questions should be interesting, draw the interlocutor into the conversation.

The pace of the conversation

The pace of the conversation depends on the nature of the issues being discussed, the personality traits of the interlocutor, the time available to its participants, etc. In no case should you rush the interlocutor, because. this can cause an unwanted reaction: irritation, embarrassment, the desire to end the conversation as soon as possible. If the interviewee deviates from the topic, and the journalist does not have time, you can correctly, tactfully, with the help of additional questions direct the conversation in the right direction. Particular sensitivity and delicacy must be shown in a personal interview, where a careless word, an inadvertently made remark can destroy contact.

What is the art of conversation?

1. A true journalist must go to the interlocutor, firstly, with a thought, and, secondly, behind a thought.
2. For the conversation to be fruitful, the interlocutor must at least be interested in it.
3. The journalist himself as a person should be interesting to the interlocutor.

Interview Art Tips

1. Do not ask angry, provocative questions.
2. Give the interlocutor the opportunity to speak, do not interrupt him.
3. Use silence to your advantage.
4. Repeat your question. If your question is not answered, repeat it in a slightly modified form.

Commandments of the Interviewer

Checking the information obtained during the interview

The interview has a double subjectivity: the source of information and the journalist who perceives the information. The interlocutor can state the events from his point of view truthfully, or he can deliberately give incorrect information. You can not rely entirely on his information, because. human memory tends to retain one information and lose another. It is not for nothing that journalists say: “He’s lying like an eyewitness.”

The information received during the interview depends on the individual properties of the interlocutor’s memory, his state of health in general and at the time of the event, on his competence, on the situation of the conversation, his attitude towards the correspondent, on the ability of the journalist to talk, etc.

Control of information during the interview can be:

• external – is based on a comparison of the facts reported by the interlocutor with data obtained from other sources,
• internal – based on a comparison of the statements of the interlocutor with his own words.

Techniques for controlling the reliability of information

5 types of interview

1. Talk show – a TV or radio interview, general or individual, with the obligatory participation of viewers in the studio or through phone calls. Talk shows can be socio-political, educational, entertaining.

2. Press conference. A collective interview, in which journalists from many media simultaneously participate, who ask questions on various topics to one or several famous people (politicians, athletes, showmen). As a rule, press conferences are organized at the initiative of the responding party, which is interested in the fact that the public knows more about it. Each journalist prepares interesting questions for a press conference, presenting his own media, but he can use answers to questions from other journalists in preparing the material. Those. a press conference is a collective work of different media.

3. Briefing – a kind of press conference. As a rule, journalists do not ask questions at them, but receive information on some important issue from the person or persons who created the briefing. It is held in order to quickly notify the maximum number of media outlets, so that they, in turn, convey information to the public.

4. Round table – a collective interview in which the journalist acts as an organizer (“conductor”). He invites people to the studio or editorial office who can cover a problem from different angles, have different points of view on the same issue. The journalist gives them the floor in turn, monitors the correctness of statements, asks leading questions.

5. Blitz survey – a collective interview involving a survey of people of different ages, professions on the street or by phone. As a rule, the questions are short, the questionnaire consists of no more than 3 questions, which are formulated in the same way for all respondents. It is carried out in order to clarify the point of view of different segments of the population on topical issues of society.