Rules of the Road

We are spending a couple of weeks examining the process of conducting interviews, the central building block of any broadcast journalist. This week, we start looking at the guidelines in earnest.

This first rule is almost too dumb to mention, but nonetheless, is overlooked more often than it is observed:

You should know your subject better than anyone else on the planet. The only limits to the research you should do on your subject are time. The number of sources you can refer to to learn more about your subject are nearly limitless.

Of course, at one level, this is simply a recapitulation of what every journalist should do, but in our case, the effects of knowing your subject well are multiple.

First, the factual basis of your interview will be without question. If you are the local resident expert on your subject, you not only show respect for the subject, you also show respect for your audience.

More important, however, is that there are a number of psychological benefits of “getting inside” your subject’s head. You cannot calculate the benefits of knowing some small fact, some relationship, some experience your subject had, and how that knowledge will affect your approach to your subject.

TV talk-show host Larry King likes to claim that he does no homework prior to conducting his interviews; he says it allows him to come at his subjects with an ‘open mind’.

This may be fine for Larry King, but you should not count on this approach. You need to know the telling realities that make up the life of your subject, and weave them into your understanding of that subject.

Next week: setting the ground rules. Keep breathing!