Interview

The importance andfocus of the interview in the work of the print and broadcast journalist arereflected in several books that have been written on the topic .Most of these

books,as well assev-eral chapters,mainly in,but not limited to,journalism and broadcastinghandbooks and reporting texts,stress the"how to"aspects ofjournalistic

interviewing ratherthan the conceptual aspects of the interview,its context,and,implications. Muchof the"how to"material is based on personal experiences and general

impressions.As weknow,in journalism as in other fields,much can be learned from the systematicstudy of professional practice.Such study brings together evidence from

which broadgeneralized principles can be developed.

There is,as has beensuggested,a growing body of research literature in journalism andbroadcasting,but very little significant attention has been devoted to thestudy of the

interview it-self.On the other hand,many general texts as well as numerous research articles oninterviewing in fields other than journalism have been written.Many of these

books and articlespresent the theoretical and empirical aspects of the interview as well as thetraining of the interviewers. Un-happily,this plentiful general literatureabout

interviewing payslittle attention to the journalistic interview seems to be surprising for tworeasons .First,it seems likely that most people in modern Western societies are

more familiar,atleast in a positive manner,with journalistic interviewing than with any otherform of interviewing. Most of us are probably somewhat familiar with the clini-

cal interview,suchas that conducted by physicians and psychologists.In these situations thepro-fessional person or interviewer is interested in getting informationnecessary

for the diagnosisand treatment of the person seeking help .Another familiar situation is the jobinterview.However, very few of us have actually been interviewed personally

by the massmedia,particularly by televi-sion .And yet,we have a vivid acquaintance withthe journalistic interview by virtue of our roles as readers,listeners,andviewers.Even

so,trueunderstanding of the journalistic interview,es- pecially televisioninterview,requires thoughtful analysis and even study,as this book indicates.The patient is theinterviewee in a clinical interview.

A.Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned