ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses three distinct concerns of interviewing: going off the record, conducting man-on-the-street interviews, and interviewing over the phone. It reviews how reporters perform background research before the interview takes place. Reporters also must decide before the interview what kind of information they want. Warming up an interviewee also tends to put the person more at ease; a relaxed person usually provides a better interview. In a non-investigative situation, the main reason for interviewing people is to get information that is generally not known to the reporter and the public. As an interview unfolds, far too many journalists assume the technical elements have been satisfied and their work is solely for a sound bite. In order to prevent one- and two-word responses, reporters must phrase their questions so they are impossible to answer with a "yes" or "no" or by just a shake of the head.
