Good questions to ask in interviews

Yes I think there’s the old classic that you get taught at journalism school, that is when, where, why, how and who?

Yeah five W’s and an H

Yeah, they’re always great ones to start with when you’re talking to somebody, just go through all of those questions and they are the initial ones that get a conversation rolling, and then once you’ve got the conversation rolling, you ask questions that come up sort of organically. I think the really important thing is to listen to the person that you’re talking to. It’s not about you talking, it’s about you listening to them and finding out their story.

In terms of questions, your job as a journalist is to get the most information as you can out of the person that you’re dealing with. So you go in with some gentle questions. In radio actually, the first question we ask is, “What did you have for breakfast?”, or “What’s the weather like outside?”, because we’re getting a level check on people, and I don’t like to pre-interview people because they’ll say something wonderfully to you and then you turn the tape on and they’ve forgotten. No it just sort of never works. So you maybe call them patsy questions, but I go off fairly gently, perhaps the sort of questions that are useful for background before I get them to say what they want to say on tape. But the what, when, why, how, who are the basic questions you need to know. My, producer Simon Morris’ question, he’ll sort of go, “What makes you so fabulous?” is essentially what he is trying to say in a different kind of way. But I tell you, I think that listening is crucial and I don’t like journalists who go into an interview with the whole list of questions. Mike Hoskings used to do that, and you can tell when a journalist does that because they’re not listening to the answer, they’re going through the question because that question line takes them to where they want to go, and they’re not responding. I actually don’t write a question list, I’ll have some little bullet points maybe. But that forces me to listen very closely to the person that I’m speaking to, and I just think that’s a much more interesting interview and they can tell that you’re engaged with them. But I think one of the most important things is to treat your interviewee with respect and to do your research. I’ve had so many, especially writers, actually come and say “Look it’s just so refreshing to be interviewed by a journalist who’s read my book!” and I say “Well I’d never interview somebody if I haven’t”, you know, a writer if I haven’t read their book, that’s hopeless! You can’t get the information you need and it’s disrespectful. So please do that. Please go in as well researched as you can, with an open mind to the fact they may tell you something that no other journalist has ever done if you do your job correctly. I guess, when I feel I’ve done an interview successfully is when the person at the end will say, “Gosh you know, I’ve never talked about that, … I didn’t expect to go there, I didn’t expect to say that.”, and as long as they’re comfortable with the finished product that’s actually quite cool.