Interviewing: A Guide for Journalists and Professional Writers

This is an essential guide to the art of interviewing, with checklists, tips and examples from leading journalists and PR specialists, covering basic to advanced techniques. Sedorkin and Forbes provide a comprehensive, step-by-step overview of how to manage the interview process. They cover:

• best practice for preparing for an interview (and what to do when you don’t have time to)
• the differences between news and feature interviews (for print and broadcast)
• techniques to break the ice and navigate tricky and sensitive interviewees and topics
• tips on staying safe when operating in dangerous situations
• how best to utilise digital tools to make the most of any interview situation

This third edition builds on the popular previous edition and expands its scope to include the disciplines of public relations and professional writing, areas where practitioners require the interviewing skills of journalists to produce materials for the media. It also contains new and updated global examples/case studies and excerpts, including remote interviewing technologies and techniques developed and adopted as a response to the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional pedagogical features have been added to help facilitate learning, like end of chapter exercises, checklists, videos and top tips.

This book provides the tools for students and professionals to hone the necessary skill set to excel at interviewing. It is an ideal and important resource for those studying or active in the fields of journalism and PR, and those undertaking professional writing courses.

Gail Sedorkin has worked as a journalist for ABC Radio, regional newspapers and magazines, and as a journalism and public relations educator at James Cook University, Deakin University and CQUniversity. She is the sole author of the second edition of Interviewing and co-author of Reporting in a Multimedia World and Get Your Message Across.

Amy Forbes is Associate Professor of Journalism and Communication at James Cook University. She has worked as a journalist across media platforms producing news and public affairs programs for television in Manila, and was a writer and co-publisher of Balitang Kababayan, the Philippines’ first regular daily online news outlet from 1995-1999. She was also an original staff writer for the Daily Tribune.