Some of you will be by yourself on camera, such as in giving a video presentation. You will learn those tricks in the chapters on anchoring and on hosting. But you will also gain skills by studying the reporting chapters. In those reporting chapters are some valuable lessons and tools on writing skills for television and how to write your own script. Hosts, anchors and reporters, all of you are on-camera presenters. The point is: Each chapter is relevant for all of you.
For example, in the anchoring chapter, you will find one of NANCY’S RULES.
The rules will be peppered throughout the book. Be on the lookout for Nancy’s Rules. They offer you tricks of the trade known only to the most experienced hands in television that I am now sharing with you. The one in that chapter is simple: Room Service. But you’ll have to read the chapter to learn what that means. Many of you are looking at someday having a beat such as a legal or medical reporter or sports, business or weather. There are chapters for you too. You should all read the beat reporter chapters. Almost all of you will be interviewing someone on camera. There are many tricks to learn here and they are presented in the interviewing chapters.
Tucked inside each chapter are pointers with terrific advice from some of the best in the business.
Looking good in the office and looking good on television require different make up — both for women and for men. There is a chapter on this as well.
And when the time comes for you to prepare your reel there is a chapter on what you should include and, just as important, what you should leave out. And a special treat, there is a chapter with advice from a correspondent Melinda Murphy, who was a student of mine.
On a different note, I want to say something to you that I think is important. Public opinion on the press runs in cycles. Sometimes the press is well regarded, while at other times respect runs pretty low. I believe the professionals who communicate the news of the day or information to their employees or stockholders are doing a professional job and should not be criticized or evaluated merely as performers. You are not a dancing bear. You should not feel that you have been put in a box simply to entertain. Do not degrade yourself with a demeaning concept to help (or hype) the ratings. You are a professional. You should be proud of your work and proud of your decisions.
Now learn how to do the best you are capable of by reading and exercising. I am your guide, but you must do your part. Together we will accomplish our goal — to get you on camera.
Interviewing
2
Interviewing
Not all interviews are the same. There are different styles of inter-views and you will approach them differently. We are talking here about in-depth interviews, not on-street reporting interviews. We’ll discuss that in detail in the chapter on Reporting.
Interviewing for television should appear to be a terrific and revealing conversation between you and your guest. It might be a cheerful conversation, an argumentative conversation, or even a tender conversation. There are all sorts of conversations you can have. And just as there are all sorts of conversations, there are all sorts of interviews you will conduct. They fall into two basic categories: Hard News Interviews and Soft Interviews.
The Hard News Interviews tend to be direct, informational and almost always done on tape. Soft Interviews are done with live guests or features on tape. These tend to be nonconfrontational, emotional and comfortable. More on this in a bit.
All interviews are conversations with some basic rules. In order to make your interviews conversations, you need to follow some simple rules. We’ll call them Nancy’s rules. So let’s get started with our first set.
Prepare, Communicate, Listen.
Prepare
In all cases, you must prepare. You must do your homework and be prepared to discuss any aspect of your subject’s interest or life.
If he or she wrote a book, read it. If someone wrote a book or article about your guest, read that too. Then you will be ready if the conversation takes an unexpected, and often very interesting, turn.
It’s not enough to breeze through the research. Read it to under-stand it. As you work through the information, questions will start to form in your mind. Have a notebook handy to jot your thoughts and questions down as you have them. I guarantee you will not remember all those thoughts later. And even more important,
Fig. 2-1 Prepare.
by writing down the questions when reading your research, you will remember the WAY to ask them.
Someday, you may have the luxury of having a staff to gather your research. But until you get to that exalted position of having a staff, you must do your own. It is vital. You will understand the subject and will be comfortable with your guest. The guest will also be more comfortable with you. Of course, all of that leads to a better conversation.
Your confidence will show through, not only to your interviewee but also to your audience. Think of interviews you have watched as a viewer. You can tell when someone is prepared and when they are not. You have questions in your mind that seem so obvious but aren’t asked, right? That is a situation you want to avoid.
On the other hand, you have seen interviews where the reporter zaps just the right question at the right time — something the guest hadn’t expected — and takes the interview to another level. That’s the preparation showing through.
Rarely are 60 Minutes correspondents tripped up by the guest.
They have done their homework. They are not responsible for the primary research — the producers do that. The correspondents are given “the bible”: a huge binder of notes, quotes and background material. It’s prepared by the producer and includes a paragraph on each person to be interviewed and questions for the interview.
So until you have a producer to do that for you, it would be a good idea for you to prepare your own bible.
Unprepared interviewers can have embarrassing moments, or worse. They can lose interviews completely.
Report from the Trenches
There is one story floating around the networks that tells of the time that a young Bill Gates of Microsoft had consented to a rare TV interview. This was a big coup at the time. It was to be a taped, two-camera shoot (one on Gates, one on the interviewer). As the
Fig. 2-2 “Who is this Miss Dose?”
crew put the final touches on the set, Mr. Gates was seated in his chair across from the reporter who was just then looking at the questions for the first time. The interviewer scowled, looked around and shouted to the producer, “Who is this Miss Dose?”
The producer approached and began whispering in the inter-viewer’s ear as Mr. Gates stared at them. The interviewer, sensing there was a problem, snapped at the producer. Gates pulled off his microphone and left it carefully on his chair. As Gates started to leave, he said, “It’s not Miss Dose, it’s MS Dos . . . it’s my invention.
That’s the operating system behind Microsoft.” Because the inter-viewer didn’t know that, Gates assumed, correctly, this interview couldn’t be of any value.
The story illustrates the value of research and preparation.
Research
Where do you do your research? Where do you dig up the infor-mation you need? There are the obvious places: Written research
can be found on the Internet or in magazines and books. In turn, these basic sources may lead you to more obscure ones. Like a good reporter, follow through with each lead. By a close read of the magazine, book or Internet research, you might get more ideas for further contacts and consequently different ideas, stories and information.
Always read the entire article so you can understand the context.
Always try to be aware of the largest possible picture. You will pick up tidbits of information that spark the guest and the listening audience. In effect, you become the source where the audience will go for information on the topics you choose.
Communicate
In all cases, whether a live interview or taped, whether hard news or soft, communication must take place. You must connect with your subject. You should stay interested.
In our daily lives, we communicate all the time. It’s called having a conversation. This does not mean a leisurely chat. Keep your energy up; your guest will also. Keep your pace up and your guest
Fig. 2-3 Communicate.
will follow. Keep your interest up and your guest will too; and you will be able to communicate fully.
Listen
How will you become a great interviewer? By becoming a great listener. There is no greater compliment that you can give a person than to listen to what he or she is telling you. Listen with enthusiasm and interest. This is called active listening. You do it already when someone is telling you something you care about.
In all cases, listen to to your guest when he or she is talking.
Listen to what your guest is saying. You can check your notes later. It’s disconcerting for your guest if you are looking somewhere else. Conversation breaks down, and you will probably miss some-thing. If it’s like life in general, when you aren’t listening, I mean really listening, you miss the most important thing your guest says.
By paying close attention, you will catch those unexpected and most interesting items.
By listening and with proper preparation, you will pick up any new or newsworthy item. Whether it’s the confession of an actor
Fig. 2-4 Really listen.
Fig. 2-5 Watch the body language.
or the admission of a businessman, when you hear it, alarm bells should go off in your head. Be sure to follow up.
Be aware also: Not all language is verbal. Not only must you listen to the guest’s words, but you must also read his or her body language. It speaks volumes. And it might be giving you (and the viewers) a different and more honest answer to your question. If it becomes pronounced, address it.
For example: You have been asking the corporate officer about documents that show illegal acts.
Corporate Officer: “I can tell you honestly, no one in our company did anything of the sort.”
You: “You’ve broken out in a sweat, sir . . .”
Eye contact has become the buzzword. You hear people say,
“You must make eye contact.” A more precise term that I like for interviewing is FACE contact. When you are interviewing someone, if you stare directly into the eyes of the person, either of you can lose your train of thought. It’s very disconcerting for both of you.
If you focus only on their eyes, you will find it difficult to assess all of what they are saying. By looking at the whole face, the eyes included, you can read their expressions and their body language.