Journalistic Interview paper - Essay Example

Journalistic Interview Paper Interviewing is a very important skill for any journalist. This is because it is one of themost important ways that a journalist can use to gather information that would be used to create content for a story. Having good interviewing technique and skills needs a lot of practice. There are dos and don’ts in an interview. These are things that one should not and should do in order to have a contextual interview. When interviewing, a journalist’s objective is to get the interviewee’s opinion, knowledge, feelings on a particular topic.

Professor Christina Stansell-Weaver is an Alumni of Eastern. She started lecturing part time in 2009 at the communication department. Professor Weaver says that the communication department is friendly and accommodating. Being Alumni at the Easter led her to working at the eastern university. Professor Weaver did her graduate work at EMU in 2005. She later became a graduate assistant. This opportunity helped her to improve on her weaknesses as she was evaluated twice a week. Before lecturing in Eastern, Professor Weaver moved to Louisville, KY where she had a teaching job as a part time lecture.

At the same time, the professor was also doing writing work for her sister which she really enjoyed. As a part time lecture, Professor Weaver has a lot of advice to offer to someone that wants to become a lecture. Firstly, she says that one needs to take an instructor course alongside their degree. She also says that a good lecturer will ensure that her students enjoy the class and still remain respectful to each other. According to Professor Weaver, an adjunct professor has been replaced by the part time lectures at the Eastern University while a associate professor is placed on a tenure to become a professor.

The professor states that there are the highs and lows of being a part time lecture. The high of being a part time is that one brings a real life experience to the classroom while the low side is that some students will complain that the part time lecture is not effective in the classroom. She advises anyone that wishes to pursue being a lecture should ensure that they complete their graduate course in MA and pursue a PHD at Wayne state. One should also find a position at a junior college or university and follow the required steps to become a lecturer.

She also advices, “follow your passion as passion is ones greatest asset.” Interview questions should always be open ended. As the use of open ended questions will yield more information for the interview compared to when one is using closed ended questions. Using open ended questions encourages the interviewee to give meaningful responses depending on their own opinion and feelings about the subject. Open ended questions are better used in an interview as they are less leading compared to the use of closed ended questions.

An interviewer should avoid using leading questions as this would give biased and slanted information that is not valid. In my interview, most of the questions were open ended. It is important for the journalist to have basic knowledge about the interviewee and the topic at hand. This is important as it helps the journalist to gain the interviewee’s credibility and trust. Not having basic information about the interviewee may lead them to not opening up to the journalist. In this interview I hard all the basic and required information about the interviewee.

A quiet place with minimal distraction and noise is the best place to have an interview. In some situations a place where the interviewee is familiar with is the best option for an interview location. This is because most people are comfortable and will be more open in an environment that they are familiar with. The location that I choose was not appropriate as there was a lot of background noise that distracted both Heather and I. There were different types of probing techniques that were used in the interview.

One common technique that was used throughout the interview was the focused probing technique. This technique is used to get a clear understanding on a particular topic (Lin 85). For example, “What is the education requirements to apply for a position as a lecturer at a higher education level?” this was used to get an understanding of what requirements one needs in order to become a lecture. The other probing technique that was used is explanatory probe. The explanatory probe is used to get a deeper understanding or more information to a question that was previously asked.

For example, “So did you immediately cross over to a lecturer for Eastern?” was a probe for the question, what led you to becoming a lecturer at Eastern University?” this kind of probe gets the interviewer more information on a particular piece of information that the interviewee gave. The third probing technique that was used is the reflecting probe. This kind of probe is used when the interviewer states the same thing that the interviewee just said. This helps the interviewee to reflect on what they have said.

For example, this probing technique was used in, “As a lecturer you have to utilize self control how are you measure to know you are doing a good job?” and the probe was “From lesson plans to classroom decor correct?” . The use of probing techniques helps in getting more information from the interviewee. These probes also allow the interviewee to reflect on what they said and the interviewer to confirm what was said. Having proper interviewing skills does not come by easy but through practice.

The interviewing techniques that a journalist uses determine whether the interview would be a fruitful one or not. Proper interviewing skills especially communication skills is vital to the interview. Works cited Lin, Angel. Problematizing identity: everyday struggles in language, culture, and education. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2008. Print.