The Interview

The two pre-conditions for an interview to become interesting to the reader are that:

1. It evolves around a water or sanitation topic that is relevant to the reader, because it affect him or her directly or is important for the broader political, economic or social development and
2. The interviewee contributes new insights or through his/her expertise and/or expresses interesting or controversial opinions that are thought provoking for the reader.

During an interview, the journalist’s own opinions are not relevant. Instead information about the interviewee’s life, their opinions or their expertise are elicited. The journalist, or interviewer, acts on behalf of the readers, asking questions.

About a certain water related topic or event: where experts or knowledgeable individuals are asked to provide information about that topic or event.

For opinions and analysis: where experts or knowledgeable individuals give their opinions on, or analysis of, certain topics or events. These opinions and analyses may come under critical scrutiny by the interviewer.

On a more personal basis: where the interviewer questions persons who are of interest because of who they are, whether that relates to current affairs, their field of expertise, their mandate or for other reasons.

In practice, the boundaries between the various interview formats are often blurred.

• Questions that elicit longer answers. Avoid questions that could be answered with a simple “yes” or “no”.
• Questions that the audience might have wanted to put themselves. Avoid questions that could result in bluster or babble from the interviewee.
• Questions that maintain a distance between interviewer and interviewee. Avoid questions that the interviewee might praise, or enjoy being asked. Remain critical.

An interview may be introduced by a short explanatory paragraph, in which the reader is introduced to the interviewee and brought up-to-date with any major topic being discussed. It should have a clear topic, which will have been written about in the introductory paragraphs.

An interview may begin with any particularly thought provoking or interesting question that keeps the reader interested until the end.

An interview is like any conversation. The questions and answers relate to one another meaningfully.

Questions shouldn’t be longer than three or four lines and answers shouldn’t be longer than 10 to 15 lines.

Depending on what kind of interview is being conducted, the language used could be anything from casual and conversational to professional and understood only by experts.

Even if the interviewer understands the jargon used by experts, this needs to be “translated” for the layman. Technical terms (like non-revenue water, etc.), jargon and abbreviations must be explained.

Try and retain the unique figures of speech or characteristic flavour of the way an interviewee speaks. This gives the interview flavour.

• Is the general topic suitably covered by an interview? Or would it be better to use some other story format - for instance, a profile or a feature that includes the interview? In a profile or a feature, it’s possible to add more information and more journalistic observations.
• Does the reader understand why this interview is taking place and who the interviewee is?
• As the interview progresses, is the reader being adequately informed about the background and motivation behind questions being asked? What about the answers?
• Will the reader be able to understand any technical language, jargon or expert opinions?
• Has any unnecessary information, verbosity and general, uninformative chatter been removed from the finished interview?
• Were all the relevant, important questions answered? Do the answers correspond to the questions and make sense?