Tips for interviewing sources for profile stories

1. Journalism 101
By Prof. Mark Grabowski
MarkGrabowski.com

2. Ingredients of Profile Story
• The person’s background (upbringing, education,
occupation, etc.).
• Anecdotes and incidents involving the subject.
• Quotes by the individual relevant to his or her
newsworthiness.
• The reporter’s observations.
• Comments of those who know the interviewee.
• A news peg, whenever possible.

3. Importance of interviewing sources
• Glance at today’s newspaper. Listen carefully
to tonight’s evening news­cast.
You will be
hard ‑pressed to find a story that lacks
information from an interview.
• Interviewing sources provides journalists with
information and credibility. It’s one of the key
ingredients that separates journalism from
other forms of writing.

4. What to do
before
interview

5. Set up interviews
• Identify yourself as someone who’s writing a
story.
• State the purpose of the interview.
• Make clear that the material will be used in a
story you plan to publish.
• Tell the source how much time the interview
will take.

6. Setting up the interview
• Assemble Tools: notepad, tape/digital recorder,
camera, pens
• Test tape recorder. At interview, be sure to ask if
it’s OK to tape record them for accuracy.
• Meet subject at place s/he is comfortable. If
possible, meet them where they do the
job/activity/lifestyle etc. you’re writing about.
• Meet at time they aren’t too busy.
• Prepare questions to ask in advance. Group
questions into categories.

7. Gather background info
• Prepare carefully, familiarizing yourself with
as much background as possible.
• Research your subject online: Google, Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn.
• They may have a website or bio on their
company’s website.
• Ask for their resume.

8. Why?
• It’s a building block for a successful interview
• This info can help you develop a tentative
story themes and lead to specific questions.
• It can provide you with a feel for the subject.
• It provides useful background.

9. Why?
• You may find something interesting in the
resume. For example, if you’re interviewing a
teacher, you may find that your subject went
to private, exclusive, costly schools all her life
but has chosen to teach at a very poor school.
What inspired this choice? Why is this
rewarding for her? Or you may see that she
has won awards in soccer in college, and you
didn't know she was a former jock. Do your
research before you show up!

10. Determine Story Angle
• Decide what your angle is: What is interesting or
unusual about this person? What is this person's
story?
• Devise a tentative theme for your story. A major
purpose of the interview will be to obtain quotes,
anecdotes and other evidence to support that
theme.
• It’s possible your theme may change after talking
to the person – a more interesting angle may
develop.

11. What to do
during
interview

12. Ease into interview
• The point of an interview is to find out what is
interesting about the other person and help
them get comfortable talking to you so they'll
spill the beans and do it in an interesting,
quotable, clear way.
• Initially focus on making the subject comfortable
as well as getting general background
information out of the way: involve age, town of
residence, education, jobs held, family
information.

13. Start with small talk
• Always begin with small talk - develop a
rapport with the subject. And once you begin
the official interview, start with the easy
questions first to get them talking about
themselves.
• Almost never plunge in with tough questions
at the beginning. Instead, break the ice,
explain who you are, what you are doing, why
you went to him or her. A touch of flattery
usually helps.

14. Give and take
• Come prepared with several questions, but be let
a natural conversation develop. A reporter's
biggest mistake is either to go into an interview
with no questions or to go into an interview with
a list of question and not deviate from the list.
• A good reporter begins an interview with a set of
questions, but knows when to add impromptu
questions that will get a subject to continue on a
train of thought if it sounds interesting.

15. Example
• Reporter asks, "What was the goal of the
fundraiser'?" Subject answers, "We wanted to
make the club look good; no really the goal was
to earn enough money to help build a new center
for migrant worker education" Instead of
skipping to the next question a good reporter
follows up on the first part of that answer to find
out if there was something behind it. "What did
you mean that you wanted to make the club look
good'?" the reporter asks next.

16. Listen
• Be conversational but let the source do most
of the talking. Never supply or suggest an
answer. Be patient and wait for it.
• Listen and watch attentively
• Sources are encouraged by the reporter's
gestures and facial expressions to keep
talking.

17. Observe
• A good reporter also spends a lot of time
looking at the subject as well as the subject’s
surroundings. It is a good idea to interview a
person in their office, classroom or home if
possible because a reporter will always learn
more about person by watching him in his
environment not yours.

18. Observe
• Notice details in the subject's environment,
her personal habits, her appearance, etc.:
Does she have knitting on a corner of her
desk? Does she wear a locket every day;
whose picture is inside? Does she have readily
visible tattoos; if so, what's the story behind
them? Does she roar up to work or school or
wherever on a Harley every day, in a
Mercedes, or in a hybrid electric/gas car?
Does she flinch every time she sees someone
toss a bit of trash on the ground?

19. Observe
• Sometimes, sources reveal themselves as
much, perhaps more so, in their actions as
they do in their statements.
• A good story blends together info, quotes,
anecdotes and observations.

20. Take notes and record
• Take notes even if you’re recording. Batteries
die, tapes get misplaced or stolen, things
happen. Your notes will provide a backup and
save you time. Reviewing and transcribing
your entire interview will take forever. Rather,
keep notes, review them and figure out which
quotes you want to use. Then go back and
listen to the tape to make sure you quote
them correctly.

21. Which
questions
to ask

22. Remember, start with basic data
• Ask your subject the standard background
information just to get the routine stuff out of
the way and then move on to other questions.

23. Ask open-ended questions
• Avoid questions that will yield a yes or no
answer.
• Example: Do you get on with your
teammates? What color shirt are you
wearing?
• Instead, ask open questions: Will you tell me
about how you get on with your teammates?
Why are you wearing a red shirt?

24. Prod and press
• If your subject doesn’t seem talkative or
provides mostly “yes” and “no” responses, try
prodding them a little. For example, if you ask
him, “Do you like your job?” and he answers
“yes,” follow up with “why do you like it?” If
he responds, “Because it gives me a lot of free
time,” follow up with, “What do you like to do
in your free time and why do you enjoy doing
it?”

25. Follow-up questions
• Get in the habit of asking treading‑water
questions, such as “What do you mean?” or
“Why's that?” This is an easy way to keep the
person talking.

26. More tips
• Ask about experiences
• Ask about anecdotes
• For example, if they say they’re a
hard worker, ask them for an
example of their work ethic.
• Remember to ask questions that
your readers might want to ask

27. Don’t assume anything
• If you don’t know what something means,
your readers won’t either
• So, if you don’t understand something, ask the
person to explain. Underline or circle all
names, ideas, etc. you’re unsure of so you can
double check them.
• Do not be afraid to ask naive questions.
• Do not be reluctant to ask an embarrassing
question.

28. Questions
• Visit the link below for a list of some of the
many questions you may want to ask:
http://cubreporters.org/adelphi_profile_story
• You should also come up with your own
questions

29. Avoid
• Avoid lecturing the source, arguing or debating.
• Anonymous sources. Find someone else to
interview if the person won’t let you quote them
using their full name.
• Showing your source your story before you
publish it. Otherwise, you will be inviting
censorship. If they ask why they can’t see your
story before you submit it, you can explain that
it’s impractical given your tight deadline and that
your journalism professor prohibits it

30. After
interview
ends

31. At the end
• Thank them for their time and ask them if it’s OK
for you to contact them again if they have
questions.
• Ask them if there’s anyone else they should talk
to about them.
• Give them a timeline for when you plan to write
your story and where you hope to publish it, if
you know.
• However, do not agree to show them your story
before you publish it.

32. Afterward
• Reflect on the interview and try to list your
main points of the story. What are the
highlights? Jot down any ideas you have for
writing the story.
• As soon as possible, rewrite your notes so
they make sense to you. Use tape recorder to
fill in gaps or clarify things.
• Contact source again to supply missing info.

33. Remember: Interview other people
besides the subject
• Interviewing only the source will lead to a thin,
possibly misleading story.
• To get at the person behind the personality, good
interviewers talk to the classmates, teammates,
coworkers, associates, coaches, teachers,
mentors, bosses and other people who know the
subject well – both friends and enemies.
• Get the correct spelling of names and their
qualifications/titles.

34. THE END 