The Cambridge English Dictionary defines an interview as “a meeting in which someone asks you questions to see if you are suitable for a job or course.” The interview method is not just a tool for recruitment, but it can also be used as a tool by you to shed light on a person’s view(s), be it an expert, a celebrity or a common citizen.
Have you ever wanted to conduct an interview with someone, but didn’t know how to write about it on Youth Ki Awaaz? Fear no more! In this blog, we will learn how to write an interview report. Let’s approach preparing to conduct and writing an interview, step-by-step.
This YKA blog will cover how to write an interview:
- Selecting a candidate
- Importance of research
- Forming the right questions
- Transcribing the interview
- Editing the interview
- Examples of interviews on Youth Ki Awaaz
How To Select The Right Candidate
This is the first and most important step. Deciding whom you want to interview, depends on the purpose and subject of the interview. Keep in mind who your target audience is and whom they are likely to listen to/connect with.
For example, think of Akshay Kumar doing an “apolitical” interview of prime minister Narendra Modi before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
For example, if you want someone to offer their analysis on socio-political issues in the country, you might decide to interview an activist, academic or a politician.
While an activist will give you experiences from the ground, an academic might elaborate on the theoretical knowledge related to the issue at hand. The latter makes you aware about the issue and its facets, while the former gives you a glimpse into how it impacts people.
On the other hand, a politician may be able to talk about the existing and impending policy measures related to the issue. All are equally important, but serve different purposes.
How To Do Your Research Thoroughly
Once you have selected your candidate and thought about what you would like for them to offer their insights on, the next step is researching as thoroughly as you can. Start Googling both (issue + interviewee) and reading.
Be it on the Internet, in the newspaper or books, see what others are saying about the issue and what your candidate may have already said. Tap into social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook etc. to see what you can dig up on the issue and your interviewee.
You can also talk to people to know what they think about the issue and person. You can use insights from these conversations to further your interview. The idea is to learn as much as you can about both so you can form questions that will make the person’s view(s) on the issue(s) at hand crystal clear, to the reader of your blog.
How To Form Impactful Questions
Based on your research, come up with questions related to the topic at hand. Make sure to write it down and run it by at least one more person once done.
Form a couple of introductory questions, a couple which are a bit more challenging or “grilling” in nature, and a couple of tangential ones. This is just a rough outline of course, you can add or subtract as you please.
For e.g. let us assume that you are interviewing fashion designer Masaba Gupta, on the launch of the second season of her Netflix show “Masaba Masaba”. You want to talk to her about her family. Instead of asking her about her relationship with her parents (Neena Gupta-Viv Richards) or being born out of wedlock, you can ask her about what it was like to grow up as an only child or how she made sense of being a mixed-race Indian.
Remember: your research stage was to help you back your questions and concerns with facts and examples.
If the interviewee has said something you disagree with, feel free to follow up by asking them to elaborate further, or posing a counter. Have you ever seen a Karan Thapar interview? He is a famed Indian journalist known for playing the devil’s advocate.
How To Transcribe The Interview
An interview can take place in person or over the phone or via emails. If it’s in person or on the phone, make sure to record it with the interviewee’s consent.
After the interview is over, listen to it and type it out, line by line and word by word. This is a slightly tedious process, but totally worth it.
If it’s an interview over email, you will be saved the effort of transcribing it, but you will still have to edit it nonetheless.
How To Edit The Interview
Editing is often the toughest part of publishing an interview, because it takes a lot of skill and practice to decide what to remove and retain.
Make sure that the interview is flowing smoothly, meaning each question and answer that comes next, ought to be connected to the previous ones, rather than coming across as disjointed.
Make sure the questions are in bold so it’s easy for a reader to go through your interview blog.
Often, we feel like we shouldn’t cut down on anything the interviewee has said, in order to not misquote them. This is partially true. Why is it “partially” true?
Because, as a rule, you should not change what an interviewee has said in a particular answer. You should never misrepresent what they have said.
But, if you decide to omit a question the interviewee has answered, due to lack of space or after realising that it was an insensitive one, you can choose to do so.
Here Are Some Interviews On Youth Ki Awaaz
Go through these interviews and see how the aforementioned pointers have been used by the respective interviewers:
Interview: “I Always Thought That I Needed To Be Better Than The Men In Astronomy”
‘I Am Never Going To Censor Myself’: Vir Das Defends His Comedy (And Mastizaade)
This 19-Year-Old Is Behind The Impossible Makeup In 102 Not Out, Andhadhun And Shivaay
‘No One Wants To Clean Someone Else’s Shit, But The Caste System Had Made Us Captive’
Now that you know everything about how to write an interview based blog, what are you waiting for? Wear your interviewer’s hat and ask those tough questions!