Strike a Balance in Your Approach to Interviews

By Kevin Sweeney
June 6, 2005 11:22 AM

For business journalists, particularly newly recruited rookies, finding your own interviewing comfort zone can be, well, uncomfortable.

 

While that phone sitting on your desk appears harmless, voices at the other end of the line can be intimidating. Corporate-speak from a savvy company executive is a common experience for any reporter.

 

But striking an interviewing balance between being aggressive and being you is key to successful business reporting.

 

"Some reporters have zero phone fear and are more than comfortable calling someone every 15 minutes until they get that person to talk," says Bethany McLean, senior writer for Fortune and author of the Enron book The Smartest Guys in the Room. "Others have trouble calling a possibly reluctant source even once."

 

No matter where you fall in this spectrum, research can help all reporters bridge this gap in personalities on a business desk.

 

"The most important aspect of interviewing is preparing ahead of time, and it's one of the things we as journalists do least," says Eric Nalder of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "If you only have five minutes to do research on a person, do five minutes of research."

 

Nalder recommends doing a background search on a person prior to an interview. This can empower a reporter with knowledge about a source and help him or her convey confidence.

 

A confident reporter stands a greater chance of impressing the source on the other end of the line and gaining more insight into that person and his or her company.

 

Confidence can also come from those in leadership positions in the newsroom. It's important for both editors and reporters to recognize what their strengths and opportunities are to help improve investigative techniques.

 

"You have to know your own weaknesses and know when to push yourself outside your comfort zone -- or when to restrain yourself," McLean says. "If you're not willing to do that, then I think you probably shouldn't do investigative journalism. I've never been an editor, but I suppose it would serve an editor well to learn those things about the reporters who work for her, too."

 

If you are the reporter who is willing to hassle sources every 15 minutes, McLean warns that you "may have to learn to back off a bit, because sometimes someone who would have returned the fifth phone call won't return the sixth -- they'll just be too aggravated at that point."

 

And although lack of persistence might not get you the exclusive, McLean says that you "may get some people to talk that the other type never would, because some people may respond to a less in-your-face approach and a less aggressive voice."

 

If time permits, make sure you have organized notes and list the questions you want answered.

 

Don't let a source take over the direction of the interview. You are driving; they are just along for the ride.

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Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism