Magazine Journalism - Lecture 5, 10/02/14

Confessional interviews; ‘My true story’

When doing a confessional interview the style has to be open and frank, with your interviewee admitting something about themselves that they might not want others to know about, this can be anything from a confession to a crime but is much more likely to be something emotional, medical, accidental or co-incidental. The aim of the interview is to get a reaction from the reader; it is essential that you get a response.

Once the subject matter is confirmed, the interview is straight forward but you need to make sure your interviewee is committed and really wants to do it.

Locked up?

If the interview is not a confession to a crime it is more likely to be a true life experience, however it must be extraordinary. Readers want to read how extraordinary things can happen to ordinary people and how they can learn to cope with it.

Two styles; victim’s voice and house style. No by-line.

• Victims voice/ghost written – written by somebody else but pretending to be written by interviewee, write in the victims/interviewees voice, you will use slang, have pauses etc.
• House Style - No matter how somebody talks it will always sound the same each week as it is the particular tone that the publication uses.

From a journalists point of view when starting out as a freelance writer and they haven’t given you a by line, make sure to keep a copy of the letter/email of the commission to prove you have done that piece of work.

What differentiates a confessional interview to a feature interview?

You will be writing in the first person. The biggest mistake people can make is to write in the third person. The subject will be I,I,I.

Styles – open ended;

To start a good confessional interview you will need to record around three quarters to an hour of the interview in order to get the best quotes and best dramatic colour from them. It is key to ask lots of open ended questions, which will enable you to get a  chronology of the events that took place, at each point you must ask questions to the interviewee such as 'how did that make you feel? How did you react? What did you say to that?'

You want to use the most shocking or dramatic quotes that you can obtain from the interview, which will give the  interview a fast and pacey style.You must always be precise and to get precise points, timings are extremely important as you want to know precise dates, times, details and people involved. You need to have an open access policy so if you forget to ask something you can email the interviewee and get the information you need. 

A confessional interview has to be done face to face so you record the emotion, the facial expressions and the way they hold themselves or gesture when talking about their incident or experience. 

See copy?

• If you are doing a first person interview it is only fair and right that your interviewee can have a look at it. Not for style but in terms of libel and accuracy then you must show the article to them, it is fair accuracy.
• It is not copy approval but to correct facts. A confessional interview can be complicated so you need to get it right, the responsibility is to the readers not the person your interviewing however if you want to do any follow up interviews or continue a business relationship with that person then it is essential that they approve of the article and are happy for the piece to be published as well.

Women’s magazines;

• Weeklies
•   Not pegged to news
•  Human interest – battles with physical ailments, drugs, alcohol, divorce, domestic violence etc. Anything that the readers can relate too and will find interesting. 
• TOT
• ££££££ - will pay both you and the subject for the story.

Celebrity confessionals;

• Anne Robinson – drink, now a reformed alcoholic, once was a raving alcoholic. Did a biography and then went on to do confessional interviews.
•  Michael Barrymore – everything!
• Jordan/Peter Andre

Journalist confessionals;

• Tim Dowling – talking about how his wife is moaning about him not doing any chores/jobs at home. Self-deprecating, but quite warm journalism.
•   William Leith
• Tanya Gold – confessional journalism about weight and size
• Liz Jones – extraordinary journalist, complete one off. Daily mail fashion editor, claim to fame is that she was the Marie Clair fashion editor. She then started writing a column for the mail on Sunday about her boyfriend – mean extremely personal details. 
• Liz Jones husband
• Big debate about this kind of female confessional journalism. “Fem humiliation”

Critics;

• Within own papers!
• Jill Parkin
•  Hadley Freeman

Newspapers;

• Pegged to news – WTC (world trade centre) when it came down, you had hundreds of packages, then confessionals about people who were there/involved and their experiences.
•  Money not explicit
•  Donation to charity
• Part of package – train crash/survivor/graphic/history/news
• Headline, then a stand first. Two part prong, one shock then another shock
•  You can have some artistic license; you are allowed to re-write things with the permission of the interviewee. 

Trade titles;

•   Less dramatic
•  Still needed to balance the dull stuff
•  First person but no so much confessional
• ‘My biggest business mistake’
• ‘My mentor’ sometimes in a Q&A format.

Freelance opportunities;

• Celebs controlled by agents
• News agencies/PR agencies
• Up and coming – people are become famous

HOW?

 Look for ‘victims’- 

• Medical
•  Social
• Support groups
• Charity
•  Internet
• Phone book

CASE STUDIES;

The subject is the MOST important; it has to be engaging, interesting and dramatic. It is the fine line between going for the most dramatic case study who cannot string a sentence together or do you go for the less interesting who is incredibly engaging and can give you access to pictures and colourful comments.

• Good turn of phrase
• Great pictures/collects
• Attractive/ugly
• Happy ending
• Open, honest, realistic.

Who to avoid;

•   Too vulnerable
•  Hoaxers, mental health problems, people with Munchausen syndrome by proxy – medical condition claiming things that have happened but actually haven’t, confessing to crimes.
•  Always check it out
• People you know – malice/vested interest
• Previous confessional interview already done.
• Cannot be anonymous. For the purposes of this we need names, details and photographs to practise what we’ve learnt.