Week 5 tips

Week 5/ The Art of the Interview & Profiles

How to listen and how to really hear

What makes a good profile?

Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to know what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. He is a kind of confidence man, preying on people's vanity, ignorance or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse.
-- Janet Malcolm, New Yorker writer, being a bit over-the-top.

* Who gets a profile?
Famous folk. 
Taking a look at one aspect/chunk of their life.
Incident driven.
Readers are familiar with them, but not with some unknown aspect. How a singer overcame her drug addiction. How the mayor pushes for smoking ban because dad died from emphysema.

Ordinary folk in extraordinary circumstance.
Unknown to the reader but suddenly of interest: Saved three siblings from a burning house. Wore a wiretap that brought down two senators. At Christmastime, plays Secret Santa to poor kids and buys them toys.
    Look at one person's life in such a way that shares some greater understanding. Capturing the essence of a person. Boonie Hat Bandit.
   
Usually not cradle-to-grave, unless it's someone truly noteworthy. Like Devlin.

   
Law of Interesting.

* Size of profiles
    - Books. Magazines (2,000 - 10,000 wds.). Magazine and newspaper sketches. (1,000-3,000 words). Thumbnails = New York Times Portraits of Grief after 9/11.



* Profiles and interviews intertwined. Good = good. And the goal of interviews is information-harvesting -- especially quotes.

* The quote should be afforded a place of honor in a story. Use quotes sparingly. Don't quote for quotes sake. Paraphrase first. And when you allow the reader to hear from the subject, make it worthwhile. Quotes should not only deliver information, but deliver something worth hearing from the subject's mouth.
      
NO: "The TV weatherman said a tornado was coming. It was hot outside. Then suddenly the clouds rolled in. The tornado sirens started going off," said Connie Wills.
YES: "I was scared witless," said Connie Wills. "Soon as I dived under the bed that twister was bearing down on me."
   
NO: "The building will cost $6.2 million went completed. It is super-efficient. It even has window shades that automatically maneuver to block out the sun."
YES: What do you think of the new shades? "It's pretty cool. But I wonder what happens if I want to look out the window and they're shut."

NO: (from a Post-Dispatch profile of wacky shortstop Brendan Ryan.)
"It's not like you can go home and brag about that, about being ready," Ryan said. "It's like the groundballs. You can be as good as you want, but you still have to get the chance to show it. I think that (run) started things for me. ... Nobody wants to be a robot. You yourself know this is important. This at-bat. This groundball. This situation. Inside, you know these are important things. But unless they see you taking these things seriously, then you're just a goofball.
"That showed I want to help," he concluded. "This is important to me."   


* Before you interview
    - Research and background. Get to know them. Google. Missouri Courts: www.courts.mo.gov/casenet.  Facebook. Twitter. Read items in other publications.
    - Call other sources. Family. Co-workers. Friends. Try to get to know this person so you can have a feel for them BEFORE you sit down to interview.
   - Subject will appreciate your legwork. More likely to open up.

*  Setting up the interview.
   
Get the best situation.
    - Make the call. Don't wait. Don't hesitate. 
- Be clear about what type of story you're doing. Not 60 minutes. Not Teen Vogue, either.
    - Overcome reluctance.
    - "I'm a features reporter. So I will be asking some unusual questions. Colors. Feelings. Stuff so I can really give the readers a feeling for who you are ..."
        - Try to arrange best possible setting.   
    1. Phone. Convenient. Easy. Quick. Not good for details beyond quotes. Emotional distance.
E-mail/IM: The worst. Use only for 2nd/3rd sources. Also note in story "said in email."
    2. Neutral place. Face to face. But at coffeeshop. Restaurant. Mutually convenient. Get interaction. But contrived setting. Potentially static. But overall, not bad.
    3. Their house/office. Good. Get them in their element. Get unspoken details. Books. Smells. Pets. Pictures. Cell-phone ring. If the symphony director's cell phone rings with Beyonce (or his screensaver is the same), that's a great detail.
    4. Doing what they do. Best possible scenario is to tag along as a teacher teaches (sit in on class) or the Iraqi immigrant who was a doctor in his native land drives his taxi here. You can always interview more formally later. Tornado girl.

* Asking questions
   
- Be natural. Conversational.
    - No need to be perfect.
    - Write down questions ahead of time. But don't use list as a must-do. 
    - Two way street: Eye contact. Head nodding. "Uh huh." "Okay." "Right, right." Verbal cues. Smiles. Try to appear interested, even when you are not.
    - Last ditch: Describe your typical day.
    - Anything I forgot to ask? Anything you think I should know?
    - Best follow-ups: Why? Tell me more about that? 
    - Mirror question: 
    "I like my job because it is flexiable."
    What do you mean by flexiable? How so?
    - Avoid YES/NO questions.


* Attributions: What is Off the Record?

    - Everything is on the record unless explicitly agreed otherwise.
    But cut regular folks a little slack.

    - Direct quote.
    - Paraphrase
    - Not for attribution --- "a source said ...." Info can be quoted but not attributed to someone.
    Work on attribution qualities -- "said a source at the university" "close to the investigation"
    - Background -- unusable information. Can only use it if 2nd source agrees to be quoted.
    - Off The Record -- like it was never uttered. Can't use it to ferret out other information.
    But when most people say OTR they mean "not for attribution" so work on it to make clear.
      

* Speech tags
    Can you "laugh" a quote? Snort?    

* Ethics of Quoting
    Idioms/Ungrammatical
    Don't fix quotes. But consider what the intent of the quote is -- whether to use or not.


* Tone: Don't be too nice or too mean.
    Too nice, seems like a PR piece. Hornbeck sheriff profile. Won't ring true. Too mean, a take-down job.     Best incomplete answer: Be fair.
Even the best, most-perfect people have inner conflict. Tap into that. Doing good is not easy.
   
* Keep in mind as you interview

    Be open-minded.
    Keep your ego out of it. Don't argue. Don't disagree. (But sometimes you can to goad your source into revealing something.)
    Listen. Shut up.
    Don't be ashamed of your own ignorance. "What does that mean?" "Can you explain that to me?"
    People like to play the expert. Or to hide your ignorance, blame the reader. "How would you explain this concept in layman's terms so that the reader's might understand?"
    There truly are not stupid questions.
    Assume nothing.

* Trust but verify.
    - Everyone has a story but it might not be the true story.
    - Pick out verifiable details and check. She said she graduated from St. Pius Academy? Call the school. Said he went to jail for pot possession. Make sure it wasn't kiddie porn. Said his son earned his Eagle Scout two years ago? Call Scouts and double-check, make sure it wasn't five year back.