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Brevity, authority and focus

A journalist needs to be well prepared when planning an interview. However, after all your research, try to keep the interview to three questions, because if you haven't worked out in three what you want to find out from the person you are talking to you, you probably never will. And try to avoid looking at your notes, but, instead, pay attention to what the person you are interviewing is saying, otherwise you might miss the news story. Here are a few tips for planning and executing an interview.

Interview tips for journalists

1: Never give an interviewee questions in advance. It's fine to give a general idea about the interview themes, but being too specific may limit what you can ask in the interview. It also risks being overtaken by events and allows the interviewee to rehearse answers.

2: Be on time. There's nothing worse than keeping someone.

3: Always check that your equipment is working and that you have enough batteries, tapes, discs etc before you leave the office.

4: Treat the interviewee with respect. A warm but not over-enthusiastic greeting is a good start. The interviewee deserves respect whether they are a president or a man or woman in the street.

5: Take control of the location. It's your interview. You need to choose a place that isn't too noisy and where there are not too many distractions.

6: You are not the centre of attention. You are there to get the perspective of the interviewee, not give your own.

7: Do the research you need to, but don't try to cram it all into your questions. Put yourself in the shoes of a member of your audience before you start the interview. If they were here, what would they ask?

8: Ask the most important question first. The more pressed the interviewee is, the less time they will have and the more likely that they will cut the interview short.

9: The interview is a conversation. It is not a confrontation. You are not there to make the interviewee look stupid.

10: Try to avoid looking at notes. If you look at your notes, the interviewee may be distracted. And it's difficult for you to read and listen at the same time.

11: Maintain eye contact at all times. Keep your body language in check. If you nod your head, your subject may take this to mean that you agree with them and so there is no need to explain further. You may miss the chance to discover more. If you shake your head, or recoil with a shocked facial expression, you risk making your subject clam up. You will have shown them that you find their views offensive and so they are likely to stop short of saying even more in the same vein.

12: Try to ask a maximum of three or four questions. An interview is not a fishing expedition. If you can't get to the essence of what you want the interviewee to say in three or four questions, change the questions.

13: There are only six basic questions. Who? What? Where? When? How? Why?

14: Shorter questions are better than longer ones. Never ask more than one question at a time, combining questions makes it easy for the interviewee to avoid answering one altogether but without seeming to. Be as direct as you can without being rude.

15: Be sure of your facts. There's nothing worse than being told you are wrong by an interviewee - especially when it's live.

16: Listen. The interviewee might want to use your interview to say something important that you were not expecting.

17: If the interviewee's not happy with the way they answered a particular question, don't give in to appeals for them to do it again - unless there is a factual error in the answer or there is a risk of serious confusion.

18: At the end of the interview, no matter how difficult the interviewee has been, always say thank you

19: Always check the interview has been recorded before the interviewee leaves. It's much harder to re-do the interview if there's been a technical fault.

20: When you're editing, don't take answers out of context. That's dishonest.

Image by Andres Rodriguez released under Creative Commons

Jaldeep Katwala has been a journalist since 1985. He has worked for the BBC, Channel 4 News and Radio Netherlands as a broadcaster. He has also taught journalism and run several media development projects and training courses around the world.

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A journalist setting off for an interview needs to be prepared. They need to know what they want to get from the interview, but keep an open mind for the unexpected. Be on time, be polite, take control of the situation and remember you are not the centre of attention.

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All the resources displayed in this section have been taken from the BBC academy page

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This section contains examples of best practice and advice on the art of interviewing and choosing guests.

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Ask clear, simple interview questions: Jeremy Paxman

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Ask clear, simple interview questions: Jeremy Paxman

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Ask clear, simple interview questions: Jeremy Paxman

Jeremy Paxman is a famously direct interviewer. He put simple, often extremely blunt, questions to a whole range of guests on Newsnight - BBC Two's flagship news and current affairs programme.

The questions Jeremy Paxman asks are usually the kind that viewers themselves might want to ask, given the chance.

Simple questions that make no assumptions about the audience's background knowledge are more important if the subject is complicated. They make it harder to give evasive answers, as complicated questions tend to invite complicated answers. On sensitive issues, they reduce the risk of appearing patronising.
Illuminating answers
In this compilation, Jeremy takes a direct approach to politicians and prisoners; even the then terminally ill Christopher Hitchens.

Just ahead of the 2010 general election and in the wake of the MPs' expenses scandal, Prime Minister Gordon Brown predictably faced Paxman, as did candidates for the 2010 Labour deputy leadership, including Harriet Harman. Both interviews drew some frank responses.

In November of the same year, Jeremy interviewed prisoners at High Down in Sutton, Surrey. His aim was to examine the effectiveness of prison policy in Britain. It's a complex issue so his questions were straight and simple: "How do you find it?"; "What are you in for?"; "Is it doing you any good being in prison?"

The interviews elicited some illuminating answers.
What's the prognosis?
Speaking to author and journalist Christopher Hitchens about his terminal cancer, the interviewer might have been expected to open with a less direct, more empathetic, tone than "what's the prognosis?"

However, given the writer's appearance and the fact that he had already published honest accounts of his predicament, it may well have seemed odd not to have begun with the cancer, said Jeremy. In the event, Christopher Hitchens - formerly a regular Newsnight contributor - was remarkably forthcoming.

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BBC Academy - Journalism - Ask clear, simple interview questions: Jeremy Paxman

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Jeremy Paxman is a famously direct interviewer. He put simple, often extremely blunt, questions to a whole range of guests on Newsnight - BBC Two's flagship news and current affairs programme. The questions Jeremy Paxman asks are usually the kind that viewers themselves might want to ask, given the chance.

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Treating interviewees fairly

Openness and independence are at the heart of dealing with interviewees. Only rarely are covert methods used to secure or secretly record an interview. And this is never done without prior discussion at a senior level. So what boundaries exist?

The fundamental rule is to tell the guest exactly what the subject of the interview is.

There may on rare occasions be a case for obtaining an interview by subterfuge - to expose crime, for instance. This is when all other means of securing the interview have failed or are unlikely to succeed, and you have senior editorial approval.

But in almost all broadcast journalism hiding the real reason for an interview is deception. A presenter can ask supplementary questions and should pursue interesting answers - that's not the same as ambushing a guest.
Intermediaries
With some guests - politicians, public figures, business leaders - you'll usually deal with an assistant or PR who will push you hard for as many details as possible.

They're entitled to know:

Who will be doing the interview

Which programme or programmes it's for

Whether it's live or recorded

Whether they will be in discussion with another guest and, if so, who that is

The broad subject area - if you are planning to make a specific allegation, they are entitled to know the precise allegation in the words you plan to use to make it.

But, unless there is an overriding reason, you should always refuse to:

Provide questions in advance

Fix a precise duration

Fix durations or the proportions of the interview for subject areas

Avoid certain subjects

Give the guest the right to withdraw or edit the interview after recording, or any other editorial control.

Independence in fixing guests
How do you make sure you've made your choice of guest wholly independently of any spin or pressure?

"Fair dealing is essentially about letting contributors know how their contributions will be used"

Your independence can appear to be compromised by spin doctors and press officers, off-air relationships, favouring one (kind of) guest over another, or appearing to have an agenda.

Listen to the press officer's pitch, by all means; but the harder they pitch the more careful you have to be to apply your professional judgement to what they say.

You may have a range of contacts who you know are prepared to do interviews at short notice or who always perform well in a discussion. But are you checking often enough that they're the best person for that interview? Is their agenda starting to show in your output?

And what about social relationships? While there is nothing wrong with going to a book launch, an MP's reception or meeting sports team members in the club bar, you have to keep a professional detachment - and a detachment that the audience will recognise.
Pressure or harassment?
You will often have to be persistent to persuade a guest to appear. But excessive pressure can be counter-productive, especially if the person is not used to being in the public eye.

Ask yourself:

Are you making serious allegations about that guest?

Is there a public interest in hearing from that person?

Is it difficult or impossible to get to the truth or be impartial without hearing from that person?

In general, if you reach the point where you've spoken to the potential guest in person, made it crystal clear what's going to be said, and that you'll say on air that so-and-so was approached and declined (empty chair), and the answer's still 'no', then further calls probably amount to harassment.

Unless the story or situation changes, it's legitimate to re-approach a potential guest if, say, a new story is running in the papers or there's a new contribution from a player in the story.
Door-stepping
It's not normally acceptable to try to grab an informal interview or doorstep someone, certainly not on private property.

It may be a legitimate option if you are making serious allegations against them; you've explained precisely what they are; and they've declined to appear or make a statement.

But you must always make a conventional approach even if you're sure it will be declined.
When to stop chasing
You shouldn't give up on a guest until you're certain they know exactly why you want to talk to them. If they decline in full knowledge of your bid that's normally the end of it unless the story changes.

Guests, or more often their PRs, believe that by saying 'no' to an invitation to appear they will kill the story. If you intend to broadcast the story anyway, make that clear.

And if it's your intention to 'empty-chair' the interviewee, you should say so. Make it clear that you want to know precisely why they're declining to appear and that you will use that reason on air.

The BBC editorial guidelines give specific guidance on political independence, dealing with contributors, rights of reply and privacy issues, including door-stepping.

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BBC Academy - Journalism - Treating interviewees fairly

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Openness and independence are at the heart of dealing with interviewees. Only rarely are covert methods used to secure or secretly record an interview. And this is never done without prior discussion at a senior level. So what boundaries exist? The fundamental rule is to tell the guest exactly what the subject of the interview is.

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Getting guests to open up: Victoria Derbyshire and Eddie Mair

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Getting guests to open up: Victoria Derbyshire and Eddie Mair

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Eddie Mair and Victoria Derbyshire demonstrate how open questions invite guests to talk; demonstrated in interviews with Nick Clegg and Peter Bacon.

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Getting the first question right: Stephen Sackur

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Getting the first question right: Stephen Sackur

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BBC Academy - Journalism - Getting the first question right: Stephen Sackur

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Stephen Sackur uses different strategies to frame his first question in HARDtalk interviews with Geir Haarde, Husain Haqqani and Boris Johnson.

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Researching an interview: Jon Sopel and Libby Purves

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Researching an interview: Jon Sopel and Libby Purves

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Researching an interview: Jon Sopel and Libby Purves

Unless a presenter is thrown into an interview without notice, they need to go in armed with good background knowledge. Jon Sopel is the BBC's North America editor and has worked across the BBC as a correspondent and presenter. Libby Purves was the first female presenter on Radio 4's Today and has hosted Midweek since 1983.

Learning what you can about the interviewee will help to put you on the front foot. What style do they like to adopt in interviews? And what have they said on the subject before?

The presenter needs 'ammunition' - particularly where they are trying to hold someone in authority to account - to challenge them on their assertions, to get them to explain clearly what they are talking about and to support any case they want to put to them.

Various types of research can help to prevent stock responses from going unchallenged:

Killer facts, produced at the right moment, can be a highly effective way of challenging a guest's argument

Judicious use of opinion polls may show that politicians are out of step with what the public wants

Statistics can be used, with care, to present a counter argument

Case studies can be useful too - making it hard for a person to argue that something is absolutely not the case when you present an example showing that it is

Accurate past quotes, replayed in context, can illustrate that someone in authority has changed their mind, been hypocritical, or even misled the public.

Original research material - like the leaked document Jon Sopel produces in this explosive Politics Show interview - can provide some of the most powerful ammunition of all.

At the other extreme is the unnerving situation of having to interview guests live on air with little or no knowledge of them or where they stand on an issue. Jon Sopel and Libby Purves shared their experiences of just such chilling moments during a discussion as part of the College of Journalism's Art of the Interview season.

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BBC Academy - Journalism - Researching an interview: Jon Sopel and Libby Purves

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Unless a presenter is thrown into an interview without notice, they need to go in armed with good background knowledge. Jon Sopel is the BBC's North America editor and has worked across the BBC as a correspondent and presenter. Libby Purves was the first female presenter on Radio 4's Today and has hosted Midweek since 1983.