Magazine Journalism - Lecture 7, 24/02/14

Features interviews/profiles/general features;

Otherwise known as a ‘sit down chat’ with a particular individual who you are writing about however you are not interviewing them.

Classic interview journalism does not include facts, figures and background details however modern day magazines and newspapers will include these elements in their interviews.

Distinct features;

• Confessional first person 
•   Feature interviews
•   Profiles
• General features – these are an art form in themselves, you are effectively making an interesting article out of one interview.
• Simplicity – a nice, clean format which readers can relate too. This will effectively attract a loyal readership.

Interviewers;

To be an interviewer you must be an exceptional writer with a defined style that readers will respond too. An interview has to be a conversation, the interviewee must either get on with you or hate you, preferably the first option as they will open up to you and respond to questions with interesting answers.

• A touch of the stalker, a ‘voyeur’
• Good quotes
• Confrontation

History;

• 1884 – Pall Mall Gazette editor, WD Stead. Seen as the paper making the news, their interview was seen to effect government policy.
• 1890 - US, Pulitzer/Hearst
• 1960 - US, New Journalism – literary reportage, Hunter S Thompson/Nixon, Tom Wolfe, Normal Mailer – extravagant Andy Warhol ‘Interview’ magazine that was dedicated to the cult of celebrities, interviews were unedited so they were pretty liberal and eccentric. Made money through advertisement as the people reading this magazine were very rich, effectively a brilliant business model.

21^st Century;

·       Interviews are dying – everything is managed by agents and publicists, this has had a negative effect on the interviews that celebrities will partake in. It is extremely formatted and often has to go through vast amounts of copy and image approval.

• Stars websites
• Q&A
•  Copy/pic approval

·         

“Now I am sorry to say, we are going back into a mode of prostration before celebrity”

Successful interviews;

• Do not be late – be professional; if someone is giving up their time do not waste it!
•  Do not be scruffy – first impressions will last.
• Location – choose your venue carefully, it has to be somewhere that is both quiet but has an atmosphere; you need to be able to hear your interviewee. 

Unsuccessful interviews;

• Expect the unexpected
• Expect people to be rude
• To get a response from someone, sometimes you have to use a confrontational question to get a reaction and an instant quote

What’s the lesson?

• Never say no to an interview
• Always be prepared
• Have a list of questions
•   Have an exit strategy if something goes wrong.

The Basics;

• Preparation – check what has been asked before.
• Google  or twitter search
•  Cuttings check
• Blogs/personal website
•  Get on with the PR – they have the absolute access
•  Read book, listen to album, watch film

Interview types;

• Celeb press junkets – celebs will book out a suite of rooms and they will see a huge amount of journalists during the day, as a journalist your time will be allocated on how interesting you are.
• Briefing – may be a panel of people, much more formal, less emotional.
• One to one – sit down chat
• Q&A - mainly done on phone, cost and time effective. 

Phone Interviews;

It is important to establish a rapport quickly. This is something you cannot change or alter, but journalists with regional accents can sometimes put interviewees at ease as it gives off an impression of the journalist rather than a neutral accent which can come across as harsh or intimidating. One way to get on with your interviewee is to be helpful and put them at ease; it is courteous to ask how much time they have so you can ask the questions your editor wants you to without pressuring the interviewee.

You must find out how much time the interview has and work to their time schedule. It is essential to get their number in case the phone cuts out or you run out of time with them.

Questions;

1. Have forward-looking questions – often used as a news hook.
2. The past is researchable – what you need to concentrate on is the future but it is still important to get the interviewees views on their past.
3. Ask open questions – Use the word ‘describe’ as it puts interviewees on the spot and gets you the quote.
4. Use the word ‘how’ as in ‘how did that make you feel’ which gets interviewee to open up to you.
5.  Ask dumb questions which you can get your interviewee to clarify.
6. Mix of factual, pointed and humorous questions.
7. Don’t ask long winded questions - You don’t want to lose your interviewee. Split the question into two or three parts.
8. Throw away questions – especially if you are doing a big sit down feature, if you haven’t got a tape recorder you will want some questions that you don’t really care about the answers too so while they’re answering you can analyse how they talk, what they’re wearing, what photographs are on their mantelpiece. Used as a distraction to get visual details. Always use their bathroom; in doing this you get to see other areas of their house or people/staff living in the house.

The classic questions;

• How do you know that?
• What makes you say that?
•  Can you give me an example?
• Tell me a story from your childhood?
• If you were writing your epitaph, what would yours say?

Writing it up;

Use your instinct when starting to write your article, it is normally right. If you have a basis already in your mind after the interview it will make the feature easier to write.

• Killer first sentence
•  Killer last sentence
• Wrap it up
• Pay off line

British press awards;

Judges will look for an imaginative choice of interviewees as well as an ability to extract revelations from frequently interviewed subjects. They will also search for a writer with a distinctive style in a highly competitive field.

Will Self on Lynn Barbers method “starting from a position of really disliking people and then compelling them to win you over”

Profile writing;

•  ‘Obituary for a living person’
• Newspaper library is known as ‘the morgue’ – where you get any research or cuttings about who you are interviewing

Who?

• Man/woman in the news
•  Anonymous
• Pen portraits
• Who they are
• How they got to be who they are 

Mass Market;

• How one of us got to be ‘so famous’
• Celebs such as Cheryl Cole, Victoria Beckham etc.
•  Talk to old school friends, family, work, colleagues

Method;

• Press cuttings
• Sketch out life map
• Word length – consistent exact length
• More sophisticated
• Identify people to interview
•  Friends and family
• Editor’s views 

Subject;

• Must verify
• They might not speak to you
• Secondary sources
• Must give them the chance to comment

 Format;

• Tell anecdote/funny story which sums up your fair opinion about the person
• Delayed drop intro
• Don’t comment in your own voice – just the facts
• Straight chronological summary; she/he was born, date, place, parents.
• Balance is essential. 

Threes a trend;

An example of one thing that is interesting, when made into a trio  can be transformed into a big feature spread. Examples of this could be  Britain’s youngest millionaires or Britain’s most eligible bachelors etc.