Lesson 7 Interview
Introduction
Interviews are something every journalist would encounter. This practical lesson will explain how to conduct an interview. A video, practical instructions and rubric will be provided to assist you.
The Learning Objectives
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You will learn how to conduct an interview.
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You will be able to follow correct journalistic processes in an interview and finish an interview report individually.
Tips for Interviews
The following video describes five very useful tips for conducting an interview.
It is worth noting that there are some things you need to pay attention to, besides the research, location, preparing questions, recording and transcript mentioned in the video.
The first 3 tips: research, location and questions in the video are actually the preparation stage. What you can prepare for is more than just researching, choosing or arranging locations, and preparing questions. You also need to check the equipment you are going to use during the interview to make sure they have power or they actually work; and start to connect with the person you want to interview and make an appointment.
Then, after the interview and before transcription, what you need to do is do fact-checking. It concludes getting future contact information from the Interviewee for double-checking and verifying, also checking the fact with other stakeholders or insiders.
Practice
You have two options for practice:
1. You can choose someone you want to interview, someone who can be reached by you. Make an appointment, conduct an interview and complete the assignment.
2. Interview one of your classmate. If you chose this option, you will be randomly assigned in pairs of two. You will prepare individually, and conduct online interviews with each other through ZOOM, and then complete your own reports individually.
* Students who want to choose option #2 need to give me a reply within 5 days (by April 8) for me to count the numbers. If there is an odd number of people, student who has no group will be paired with me. You will know your partner by April 10.
* The following is the content about Zoom interviews for students who have chosen option 2.
Xiangru Chen is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Online Interview
Time: Apr 16, 2020 01:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/913588036?pwd=VzNqR2ZOUzVTeDFVRk9EMit1M1dldz09
Meeting ID: 913 588 036
Password: 982453
Tutorials on how to join the meeting:
Social Interaction Guidelines:
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Be on time.
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Be prepared. After you know your interviewee, prepare the questions you will ask in the interview (Research in advance is very important).
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Test your devices before the meeting.
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Respect others. Treat others the way you want to be treated.
Zoom Interview
Requirements & Rubric
Requirements:
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Use inverted pyramid structure, including a title, and a lead.
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1 to 2 pages in total length, double spaced.
After finishing, there is a rubric below to assist in your self-evaluation. If you have any questions, you can contact me by email or the Chat tool in the bottom right corner.
Evaluation
Rubric Quality: 6 criteria areas, 4 points possible on each, with 24 points possible.
Do not forget to add 6 points when you finish writing as requested for a total of 30 points possible!
27 points or higher = Well done! You got an A.
24-26 points = Good job! You got a B.
18-23 points = Average! You got a C.
6-17 points =Room for improvement, check the assignment again.
0-6 points = Try to finish the writing.
Summary
Interviewing is an essential topic for journalism. I design interviewing as the last practical lesson because it is not only important but also complicated. In the next lesson, I will introduce the content of the fact-checking in detail. If you are puzzled or interested in it in, you are welcome to come to join lesson 8.