For the last article from last year, we looked at this article by Kathryn Shine from Curtin University in Perth, Australia, which investigated the news sources’ attitudes and experiences of giving interviews, by surveying 220 Australian experts and media spokespeople. 

A total of five overarching themes emerged from the interviews: Preparation, Respect, Clarity, Time, Open Mindedness. There was some overlap with the competencies identified by journalists and journalism educators; the sources, on the other hand, emphasized elements like “Respect”, “Time”, and “Clarity”.

Respect included such things as professional demeanour, courtesy, and attentiveness. Time included flexibility around the timing of an interview and acknowledgement of the sources’ time limitations. The sources also did not want to feel rushed to interviews or during the interview.

Preparation and Clarity helped to put the sources at ease: confirming previous studies (Carpenter, Cepak, and Peng 2017), which have emphasized the importance of research as a core journalistic competency. For Clarity, the sources preferred questions in advance of the interview.

Finally, Open-mindedness was named as crucial by the sources and is also a core competency identified by journalists and journalism educators (Carpenter et al. 2017). This meant that the journalists should report the sources’ opinions faithfully even if they are different from their own. 

The author points out that a high proportion of the survey participants were willing to give interviews and 77% described their experiences as generally positive, but there may be some areas that are overlooked.

The article “What Factors Create a Positive Interview Experience? Insights from News Sources to Increase Media Engagement” by  Kathryn Shine is in Journalism Practice. (Free abstract).

Picture: Two Women Sitting Beside Table and Talking by Christina @ wocintechchat.com M.

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