ABSTRACT
Many interviewees set out to take control of interviews and insist on making the points or sound bites that they have prepared in advance. Many journalists are using some of the techniques that may help them to conduct more thoughtful interviews and avoid the rapid-fire, ping-pong, question-and-answer style often used by TV and radio journalists. Listening and encouraging; observing body language; using silence; making statements requiring confirmation or denial; and summarising and moving on are some common techniques used by journalists. Most journalists would agree that the body language of their interviewees says a lot about them, although it's by no means an exact science. Many journalists are gregarious by nature and find it difficult, almost impossible, to be silent. Questioning ranges from casual checking to out-and-out interrogation. Journalists' questions tend to sit somewhere in the middle of this but one way to get interviewees to talk is to seek confirmation, denial or amplification.
