Avoid the complex question that you often hear screamed  at  the  president  during  national  press conferences.  Those  questions  are  asked  that  way because the president is hard to get to and the reporters try to push as much information at him as possible. You do not have that problem. Good interviewers build each new question on the subject’s last answer. This will produce a natural sounding flow, and if done skillfully enough, will make the subject believe he is leading the interview. Let the subject think that. But remember, you have questions that need to be asked and if they relate to an answer just given, you can segue into them in such a way as to make them sound like simple follow-up questions. Finally,  do  not  be  afraid  of  asking  the  dumb questions. Many times interviewees will try to make the questions asked of them sound as if they are too dumb to even address. What they might be doing is covering up the fact that they do not know or want to give an answer. Persist a bit (if military protocol allows) and see if the person who would know the answer is available for an interview. Many times an interview will lead to other interviews with the result of some good follow-on stories or sidebars. Keep an open mind! PHOTOGRAPHERS Communicating  during  an  interview  with  the camera operator can be disruptive. If you have a short sign  language  worked  out  in  advance  with  the photographer, you can avoid the nerve wracking and irritating distraction of talking about the interviewee as if  he  were  not  there.  For  example,  if  you  want  an over-the-shoulder shot as the subject is telling about the flames from his plane searing his feet, stopping to tell the camera operator about a neat facial expression will probably ruin a nice sound bite. Some experienced news teams communicate very well with just eye movement, seat shifting, nose scratches, eyebrow movements, and so  forth. MEAT  PUPPETS Many news directors are upset about talking heads produced from an interview. The familiar cry is that the audience will be bored with a talking head, and they need a constant supply of pictures to keep their minds from wandering. Perhaps when the writing is poor to begin with, this might be true. The following thoughts are  submitted  for  the  newsroom  supervisor  to  ponder about  the  usefulness  of  talking  heads: They  can  show  a  lot  of  personality  about  an interviewee. Perhaps how the speaker looks is more important than what is being said. (Do we really care what Miss  America  says  about  world  peace?) Some speakers are dramatic and very interesting to  watch. The  McNeil-Lehrer  News  Hour  uses   talking heads with great success! BODY LANGUAGE Watch what you do with that microphone. If you have to use a stick mike instead of a wireless or a clip-on, do not position yourself so you look as if you are jabbing the poor interviewee in the face (unless it is intended to appear  that  way).  Also  remember  that  you  are communicating with your face just as much as you do with your voice. In television, the visuals tell the story with sound and words as supporting actors. If your facial expressions  show  boredom,  the  resulting  cut-aways during the editing process could be comical or worthless at best. If the interview is with the admiral’s wife talking about the Navy Officer’s Wives Club 200th annual art sale, a bored face showing upon the air could get your neophyte reporter staring at mounds of dishes in the galley for three months. KEEPING IT STRAIGHT If  you  are  working  under  a  nightly  deadline,  take notes on possible sound bites for your story as you are doing the interview. If you let the video camera be your note pad, you will be in trouble when it is time to sit in front  of  the  editing  machines  and  put  the  package together.  You  will  most  probably  have  to  listen  to  the whole interview again and then take down notes of where  the  possible  sound  bites  are.  Saving  time  is paramount  for  most  broadcast  journalists.  Besides, people expect to be interviewed by someone who will be interested enough to write something down on paper. INTERVIEWING  TIPS As with any skill, interviewing needs practice. The following  drills  have  proven  useful  to  a  number  of journalists in the past and hopefully they will help your staff  as  well. l  Practice the art of listening. Also, practice this time-honored  way  of  showing  friendship  by  not using  any  verbal  sounds  or  obvious  body 8-38