(C) Poynter Institute This story was originally published by Poynter Institute and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . They never taught me a thing about interviewing in journalism school [1] ['Paul Chimera', 'Of Buffalo', 'N.Y.', 'Is Retired A Career In Print Journalism', 'Marketing Communications', 'Adjunct College Teaching.', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline'] Date: 2024-06-17 11:00:19+00:00 My college’s highly ranked J-school emphasized that journalism students should be culturally oriented as well as professionally trained. That made good sense. After all, a journalist was likely to report on a wide range of issues, from architecture to agriculture, socialism to surrealism. At the same time, students needed to learn about summary leads and attribution; picture editing and page layout; press freedom and AP style. It made good sense. Yet never once in my undergraduate journalism education did anyone teach me anything about one of the most basic aspects of news reporting and feature writing: interviewing. Isn’t that like teaching medical students about patient care but omitting how to use a stethoscope? My journalism education took place from 1968 to 1971. Of course, we learned about story crafting, the inverted pyramid, summary leads, attribution and copy editing. All while manual typewriters, mealy copy paper and glue pots were state-of-the-art newsroom fixtures. But not a single mention of the all-important art of the interview. And it is an art. For most beginners, it is a difficult and stressful one. You need to know what kinds of questions to ask; when follow-up is appropriate; the difference between closed- and open-ended questions; how to put a source at ease — or when to afflict the comfortable. Not to mention the “mechanics” of it all: note-taking, development of a shorthand system; when or whether to tape interviews; even the art of listening. But why was there no unit on interviewing, let alone a course or perhaps some practicum-style exercises where mock interviews could be conducted and critiqued? It would have been a practical and valuable learning experience. It would have made good sense. Why am I lamenting this hole in my journalism education? Because accuracy must always be the predominant prize on which a journalist must keep his eye. And what better way to ensure accuracy — or run into trouble with it — than what comes before the story: the interview. Information gathered from one-on-one interviews (plus other sources, of course) is only meaningful if it’s accurate. Poorly handled interviews — whether indecipherable notes or failure to ask the right questions — can doom a story before it ever sees print. Did professors somehow think interviewing would just come naturally to journalism students? Was it something you learn on the job, just by winging it, and thus not really something for which formal training was necessary? In 2015, I self-published a little book called “Nuts, Bolts & Anecdotes: Journalists Discuss Interviewing & Note-Taking in Their Own Words.” I gathered commentary about the subject from some 70 print and broadcast journalists around the country. One of them, Dave Overton, then acting chair of the Department of Journalism at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, told me, “We don’t have any formal training on note-taking or interviewing. However, one of the required first-year classes is Newsgathering and a component of that is interviewing techniques, note-taking, etc. I’m not aware of any of our teachers giving tips on how to take notes (i.e., shorthand and the like). “When I teach it,” Overton continued, “I don’t because I figure they’ll figure out their own system, just like I did. Having said all that … I think there ought to be at least a workshop component on note-taking and I will pursue that. Thanks for the inspiration.” The press today is being scrutinized and judged more critically than ever, with allegations of inaccuracy the No. 1 complaint. Again, skilled interviewing can play a key role in getting things right. I’m fairly certain these days interviewing is far more routinely a part of journalism schools’ curricula. At least I hope so. I’d have to say that would make good sense. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2024/they-never-taught-me-a-thing-about-interviewing-in-journalism-school/ Published and (C) by Poynter Institute Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons . via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/poynter/