Campus-Journalism chhhhjjj-Chapter-3.pptx

campus journalism

1. WRITING THE INTERVIEW Chapter 3

2. Two thirds of all news stories in print are produced through interviews. The reporter is not always present in the scene of an event – a fire, a plane crash, a scientific experiment going on or in a policy making assembly so that he has to get most of his facts by asking questions from eyewitnesses or from participants.  

3. What is Interview?

4. An interview is an art of asking questions to obtain information. But technically speaking, it is asking questions to obtain opinion, ideas or special information on topics of interest to the general public from a prominent person or from a recognized authority.

5. KINDS OF INTERVIEW 1. Informative Interview An informative interview is conducted to obtain some information from a person responsible for a new idea. He may have made news or have participated in a news event like witnessing an airplane crash or discovering a new cure for cholera.

6. 2. Opinion Interview An opinion interview is conducted to obtain opinion. What does the source think, for example, of the proposed autonomous form of government, or of the parliamentary form of government that some congressmen are proposing?   3. Feature Interview It is also known as “profile interview”. It is a newspaper article that explores the background and character of a particular person (or group ).

7. Two TYPES OF FEATURE INTERVIEW 1. Inquiring-Reporter Type The reporter asks the same question from interviewees he selects at random. 2 . Symposium Type The reporter asks specialists in a given field one question or related questions.

8. DO’S AND DON’TS IN CONDUCTING AN INTERVIEW DO’S 1. Know your subject thoroughly and jot down exactly what questions you want to be clarified . 2. Know your interviewee – his habits, strengths, opinions on the topic, achievements and even weaknesses. 3. Make an appointment and be there ahead of time. Be prepared to listen, and take brief notes when advisable.

9. 4. Introduce yourself again even if you have an appointment. Always be courteous in requesting clarification, and be friendly and be grateful for concessions like the repetition of an explanation you are getting down verbatim, and for being allowed to tape his explanation and etc. 5. Offer to show him your write-up before its publication. 6. Respect “off the record” comments.

10. DON’TS 1. Never demand. Request and say “Thank you”. 2. Don’t react unfavorably to whatever he is saying. Even when asked, be a neutral if you cannot honestly agree with him. Remember, you will write down his answers, not your ideas. 3. Don’t hesitate to request repetition or clarification of anything not fully understood. 4. Don’t take everything down, abbreviate long words and use only key words for main ideas. 5. Don’t over stay. 6. Don’t postpone writing your notes. Do as soon as you get out of the interview room.

11. GUIDELINES TO OBSERVE DURING THE INTERVIEW 1. Be interested in what your subject has to say. Show it. Give him importance. Don’t interrupt while he/she is talking. 2. Don’t talk too much yourself. Your views are not relevant except to pump out information and to stimulate a lively conversation. However, be sharp. Your subject may only be using you as a vehicle for propaganda. In this case question him.

12. 3. Positive questions are preferred than negative or rambling questions. 4. Take notes unobtrusively. Some interviewees get frightened or bored with reporters who take down everything they say. 5. Get your subject’s name correctly spelled, his/her middle initial, address, age (but do not insist if refused), occupation and etc. – anything that is relevant to your story. It would be very embarrassing to return for these after you have left his/her office.

13. GUIDELINES TO OBSERVE IN WRITING THE INTERVIEW Correct all grammatical errors and awkward sentences made by the interviewee unless they are necessary to reveal his/her personality. In doing this, don’t change the interviewee’s meaning. Make the quotes clear and compact. Avoid any reference to yourself unless needed. To avoid monotony, don’t use “he/she said” many times. Use synonyms of said like remarked, stated, concluded, stressed and etc. Use noun substitutes like, “the speaker”, “the principal” and etc. to avoid overworking the interviewee’s name.

14. ELEMENTS THAT MAKE A NEWS News is an oral or written report of an event that happened, is happening, will happen in the N orth, E ast, W est or S outh that is of interest to the reader and should be reported.   News is a timely report of events, ideas, or situation interesting or significant to the public.

15. ELEMENTS OF NEWS 1. Conflict This may involve physical or mental conflict such as man versus man, man versus animals, man versus nature, man versus himself. Stories of war, athletic meet and journalism contests are examples of conflicts.    2. Immediacy or Timeliness This element emphasizes the newest angle of the story. The more recent the event the more interesting it is to the reader.

16. 3. Proximity or Nearness This may refer to the geographic nearness as well as to nearness of kinship or of interest. To a Filipino reader, news about cholera epidemic in Asia concerns him more than the same kind of epidemic in Europe, unless he has relatives in Europe. Again if two news stories – one about the results of the NCEE examination and another about the result of the bar examinations both appearing on the same page, a graduating fourth year student will read first the former because the nearness of interest.

17. 4. Prominence Some people are prominent than others by reasons of wealth, social position or achievement. The assassination of former senator Benigno Aquino hugged national and international headlines for many months. Prominence may also refer to places or things.   5. Significance Whatever is significant to the life of an individual is interesting to him. This is the reason why newspaper sell like the proverbial hot cakes when news of the increase in the price of oil, or of the imminence of war is published.

18. 6. Names Important names make important news. Also, the more names there are in the story, the better.   7. Drama This adds color to the story. The more picturesque the background and the more dramatic the actions are, the more appealing the story is to the reader. The public certainly loves a good show. Anything that moves the reader to tears or to laughter is good news.  

19. 8. Oddity or Unusualness This refers to strange or unnatural events, objects, and places. An odd story is interesting not because its news value but because of the human-interest side of it. Consider this: A dead man comes to life, finds himself in a coffin, sits up and dies of heart attack.   9. Romance and Adventure The romance of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton had hugged headlines for many years. Romance may be experienced also with nature. There was the romance of Hemingway with the sea and the astronaut and space.

20.   10. Progress The onward and forward march of civilization or the progress of a country is chronicled step by step in the newspaper. The trend today is towards development communication. Reports on the significant changes in the established order and on scientific achievements are in order . 11. Animals Stories of animals especially those with talents are good reading matter because of their human-interest value.

21. 12. Number Sweepstakes numbers, vital statistics, electronic results, scores in games, casualties, fatalities, prices of goods and ages of women make good news . 13. Emotion All the other elements of news mentioned above appeal to the emotion. But the term emotion here includes the various human responses such as the innate desire for food, clothing, shelter, animals and nature, and the natural feeling of love, sympathy and generosity, of fear, hatred and jealousy.

22. CHARACTERISTICS OF NEWS 1. News consists only of actual persons and events with nothing invented. 2. News is designed to inform or explain. 3. News doesn’t take sides; often it presents action without explaining the motivation. 4.News may be uplifting, enlightening, instructive or merely entertaining. 5. News must be of interest to a number of people. 6. News must be accurate. 7. News must be timely. 8. News is concise and clear.