Press Interview Fundamentals Press_Interview_Fund - digital | Page 18

Press Interview Fundamentals
Effective Press Interviews
Reporters are in the business of telling stories that people
want to read, hear and watch. The “interesting” always
manages to crowd out the important as we’ll discuss later
with critical considerations.
“The only thing I have wanted to do in my life—and the only thing I have
done somewhat well—is telling stories… For me, stories are like toys, and
making them up is, one way or another, like a game. I believe that if a child
were put in front of a group of toys with different characteristics, this child
would start by playing with everything but at the end would stick to only
one of those toys. This one toy would be the expression of the kid’s skills and
vocation…
If conditions were given for this talent to be developed throughout a life-
time, we would be on the verge of discovering one of the secrets for happi-
ness and longevity.”
—Gabriel García Márquez
Let’s glance at Journalism and Journalists
A Breakdown of Journalism
• For the most part, the behavior of reporters is predicable
• To an outsider, behavior may seem somewhat petty, arbitrary or vicious
- - Trust and know that there is almost always an “interesting” agenda
Journalists
• Reporters as a group behave in predictable ways
• Predicting behavior it important to know their;
- - Value systems
- - Decision-making mechanisms
- - Social relationships within the group
- - Social and power relationships within the group and among other
journalists
- - Behavioral triggers
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