Today was the first day of Writer’s Fortnight, and the speaker was a sports journalist called ‘Steve Dawson’. He taught us some important rules to remember when interviewing people. The first rule was to ask opened ended questions. This then keeps the conversation going, rather than just a simple “yes” or “no”. He also said make sure to not interrupt or fanboy, as this can completely ruin the conversation. Always be a single shooter; don’t ask double barrelled questions. This often leads to them completely forgetting or not mentioning your first questions. Other important notes to remember is to ‘set the answer free’, listen to the answer, and ask reliable, or relatable questions. And finally, don’t try and prove your worth to your presenter.
I thought these points were interesting, and as he is a professional interviewer, he definitely knows what he’s talking about. The thing i found most compelling and the thing that I was most curious about was that he mentioned that Larry King, probably the world’s most famous interviewer, completely fails at not interrupting his guests. This then made we wonder how King became so successful, as there is no way his entire career would have been a fluke. He answered that on TV, it is much more about personality and who you are, rather than your guests.
When reading your post, I felt like it was a little more like a summary and recap of the session. It would be great to hear your opinion on Larry King and whether you agree with Steve Dawson that he was “rubbish” interviewing and why. Maybe also your reaction to the last sentence about how on TV, ‘it is much more about (the) personality and who you are, rather than your guests.’