Teaching yourself to ask better questions

Interviewing consists of you asking questions and then selecting appropriate answers to print. The better questions you ask, the better answers you’ll get. You can use questions that the pros use. Look in news stories to find them.

“But they don’t print questions,” you say. That’s true. But they do print answers. And the theme of this blog is to [borrow/be inspired by/steal from] the pros. You can figure out the questions they ask by turning this into a “Jeopardy!” exercise – the answers are given, you supply the questions.

Think: "What question did the reporter have to ask to get this answer?"

For example, on the front of today’s Washington Post metro section there is a story about a county considering moving 6^th grade to middle school. The first quote, from a parent, says: “He’s might get exposed to things that I think he’s not ready for.” A possible question to arrive at this answer might be: “Are you for or against this move? Why?”

On the front of today’s Wall Street Journal is a whacky feature about a yogi wanting to teach Afghan insurgents and coalition fighters to join in practicing yoga. (the bottom of the front page of the Journal always delivers a fun feature story). A quote later in the story says: “We explained that meditation needs to be experienced rather than discussed as this is not intellectual therapy, but inner spiritual work.” A possible question might have been: “Why did you actually make people get down and mediate on the floor of your office when they were still in their military fatigues?”

Tip: While these aren't the most exciting examples, do this exercise with an entire news story. Write down the question for each quote. Then do it for every quote in the entire newspaper. Do this with a different paper each day for a week – WSJ, USA Today, New York Times, Washington Post, etc…  At the end of the week you will have a ton of questions written down. If you wrote them on a computer you’ll be able to group them into patterns you notice. Some will be straight forward, some will be off-beat, some will begin with various words (5 Ws and H). You’ll be able to think of questions on your own that were inspired by this list.

Then read “The Craft of Interviewing” by John Brady (It's a bit scattered, but still one of the best books on interviewing).

You will then be a great interviewer.

Ansel Oliver – saving you journalism class tuition.

(For beginners, a good, quick overview is here: http://www.concernedjournalists.org/ten-tips-better-interview)