Interview style

It is important to know the type of style to use in an interview in order to get what you want from the interview. The purpose and context of the interview will help you to decide what style to use for a successful interview.
The following are styles of interview.
  • hard news
  • light-hearted/human interest
  • entertainment
  • investigative
  • promotional
  • combative

Hard news: This type of news are fast paced news and are reported almost immediately as they unfold. It affects the audience and usually falls under politics, business and international news. Subject matters such as politics, war, economics, and crime are considered hard news and are they require immediate broadcasting. The video below shows an exclusive interview with the North Korea UK ambassador concerning North Korea's nuclear power activities which has caused concern in the US. This is hard news as it unveils North Korea's stand on the further shooting of ballistic missiles and it is known that if this continues it could mean war between North Korea and the USA. The interview revealed that North Korea will continue to pursue nuclear weapons despite the consequences. People would be affected directly if a war broke out, therefore making it hard news. 


Light-hearted news/ human interest: This is also known as soft news, they feature stories that centers on the lives of individuals. It focuses on human interest stories and celebrities. The video, "Talk smart about beer" explains the difference between Rye ans Wheat style beer. This is of human interest but doesn't affect anyone in particular directly making it a light-hearted news.


Entertainment: This type of interview is purely meant for entertainment, often takes place at a chat shows like Ellen, Late late show, Jonathan Ross and so on. The video below shows Conan interviewing Simon Cowell and Demi Lovato regarding their time on X factor as judges. They gave hilarious responses which was entertaining. Simon Cowell finding Demi Lovato annoying affects no one but made the audience laugh.


Investigative: This type of interview and news is usually at the end of a long period of research and investigation. They gather their sources form primary sources and they release their findings and interview at the end of the investigation. The video below shows Stacy Dooley investigating moms selling their kids selling their kids for sex. We can see how primary sources were used to find out how kids are traded for sex and what the customers can do to the poor kids. This video falls under investigative as it took a lot of time to put together and a lot of primary research. 
Promotional: This style of interview is used to promote or sell something. It is linked to entertainment interviews as it involves interviewing celebs to promote books, films, music and so on. The video below shows the interview of the main characters in Pretty Little Liars talk about the premier of their season finale. The interview was broadcast live in Times square in order to attract so many people's attention. The actresses talked about the secrets that would be unraveled in the show and how the characters have developed throughout the show. This is promotional as it encourages viewers to tune in when the show comes on and find out more secrets in the show. The host asked each actress about the role they played in the show and this made it possible for them to reveal more about the show to the viewers, encouraging people to watch the show especially if they haven't before.  

Combative: This style of interview is used to get information out of a reluctant interviewee. This is usually used to interview politicians to other individuals who have been heavily 'media trained'. They are very good are dogging questions but this style of interview makes it possible for journalists to get them to say what they want them to say. A very good example of a combative interviewer is John Paxman who is known for "grilling" his interviewee into answering his questions no matter how much they avoid it. The video below shows him interviewing the president of Coca cola concerning the amount of sugar in a particular amount of coke. The president would obviously try as much as possible to save the reputation of the company by avoiding the question  but Paxman wasn't having it. He kept pestering him to admit that Cola cola is guilty of using too much sugar in their product. This is combative as we can see the interviewer trying to get the interviewee to admit a point while the interviewee is dodging the question by answering another question.

Comments

  1. cdavies26 October 2017 at 02:41

    Your write up of combative interview style is excellent (careful of details - Jeremy Paxman, not John!). You use the example to demonstrate your point and your writting fully draws out and justifies the point you are making. Some of your write ups lack the same level of detail - Light news/ entertainment. Try to make sure you have the same level of detail across your work please. On the whole, comprehensively exaplained with excellent use of examples.

    ReplyDelete

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