How to be a good Journalist - STEP 1. Interview Techniques

No train, No gain

One of the most interesting shows that I like to watch is “Pepper & Friends” on KOMU.  It is the longest running local variety and talk show that is hosted by KOMU Paul Pepper and co-hosted by ‘Uncle” James Mouser with the show in its 27^th year as a mid –Missouri staple.

“Pepper & Friends” is based on people. Most of the time, the show is about people, for the people and by the people.  A typical day’s show might have interviews about health, style, relationships, home, food, car, money, cooking, and weather. Basically, “Pepper & Friends” covers everything that happens around us in our daily life.

One thing that I always amazed by the show is when Paul and James ask interviewee’s cooperation and participation. They ask perfect questions without makin

g the interviewee feel uncomfortable and always get the answers they want. Their questions come out very naturally and it flows very well with story.

Last week, I reported about the water issues in Columbia with residents of Columbia having a new chemical added to their water: ammonia. During this new process, ammonia mixes with chlorine to create chloramines and chloramines keeps trihalomethanes out of the water.  Even after 20 times of reading, I did not fully understand what trihalomethanes is and the steps of the new process. When I met my interviewee, I ask several stupid questions and I could not even say the word, trihalomethanes, correctly. I basically did not do my homework. So I had to go back there again for another interview because the answers I got were very basics about the topic and I realized that everyone can get that answer without seeing the news. It was an insult and a timewaster to ask information that I could have gotten in advance by doing my homework.

Here are the interview technique tips that I learn from my experience.

1. Plan Ahead: Plan ahead so that you can have enough knowledge about the topic and use the interviewee’s time wisely. Know as much as possible about the topic before you sit down for the interview. Make sure you have an idea of the key points that you want to address.

2. Be a good listener: Listen to what your interviewee is saying about your questions. Let them talk about their thoughts and feeling, maintain eye contact and showing that you’re interested in what they have to say.

3. Follow the style of a reporter that you admire: Look over a show or news that you particularly admire. As I said at the beginning, I personally admire “Pepper and Friends” because of the thoughtful questions that they ask. Think of the specific and the general questions that the journalists had to ask in order to get that information.

 

Columbia Add Ammonia to the City’s Water

I only had two days to come up with a good newsworthy story idea. I had three story ideas. The first idea was about Skinny Jeans and how it might be dangerous to our health. Experts found out that too tight of pants can lead to ‘tingling tight syndrome’. This story failed because it proved too difficult to find a person (ccc) who had ‘tingling tight syndrome’. It wasn’t doable.

The Second idea was about summer school. Enrollment for a summer educational program in Columbia is highest this year. This story failed as well because of the low new values and lack of the visuals.  Story about the summer educational program was on the news every summer and there was no amazing visual to shoot.

My third idea (which I really did not want to do because the topic itself was hard to understand) was about the Columbia’s water safety. It had very good news values because residents should be informed about the city’s new water process. Covering water issues was okay for me, but the theory and science behind water treatment was hard to understand and the professional words made the reporting harder.

So the first thing I did was read all the materials about the water, ammonia, trihalomethans (THM formation), chlorine, and disinfectant to understand the story better. After that I met three MU graduate students who are majoring in City water at the MU Water Research Center. Ja Xu(China), Ok Jin Choi (Korea) and Millesia Xadosue (India) helped me better understand the topic and taught me how the MU Water Resources Research center handled the issues.

The next day I had an interview with Floyd Turner who is the manager of water operations for the city and Jim Haymen from Water and Light. I basically asked about the safety issues and the risk of drinking water with THMs formation in it. I had a hard time understanding the water operation system in Columbia, so Floyd kindly gave a small lecture about history of water operation system in Columbia and the new process.

Because Columbia drinking water was cited as having a higher level of the THMS, the City spent more than $90,000 on a contract with the MU Water Research Center to identify the cause of the problem. So I tried to meet the MU Professor in charge, Thomas Clevenger but he was too busy. I emailed him twice and went to his office seven times but he was never there.  So I planned to interview two other professors but they were afraid to be on the camera. When I left the building with no interview, I had a big camera and tripod on my both hands.  And this one gentleman started talking to me at the elevator. 

“That thing looks so heavy on you.”

“ It is usually not that heavy but today it is…”

“ Why?”

‘ I came here more than seven times to get a interview from this one professor but he is never in his office!”      

‘Oh... I am sorry. Maybe I can help you”

“Do you know anything about the water issues in Columbia?”

“Yes! That is my research field!”

It was Dr. Clevenger. Earlier he had been to China for his research but he had come back. Unexpectedly, I had a great interview with him and my package was done. 

This story was very challenging and I spent a lot of time to find the right person for the interview but at the end, it all paid off.