important  when  you  are  talking  to  a  family  where tragedy  has  struck CASUAL   INTERVIEW.—   An   accidental encounter between a journalist and a news source on the street or at a social gathering can often result in a tip that arouses the curiosity of a writer. A major news story may be the result after you do some digging. PERSONALITY   INTERVIEW.—   In  the  per- sonality interview an effort is made to let the reader see the appearance, mannerisms, background and even the character of the subject. Magazines like the  New  Yorker have developed this type of interview, called “a profile,” into a high art not easily attained by daily newspapers under   the   pressure   of   deadlines.   However,   with preliminary  research  on  an  interviewee’s  background, intelligent   planning   of   questions   and   skillful interviewing, a good journalist can let a person’s words and mannerisms bring that individual vividly to life in an interesting newspaper feature story. SYMPOSIUM   INTERVIEW.—   From  time  to time,  news  developments  of  current  interest  require  a journalist or a team of journalists to seek information not from one or two sources but from a dozen, or perhaps a  hundred  or  more.  For  example,  which  of  the  two presidential candidates in the television debate made the best impression on the public? How do the residents of a city feel about their football team winning the Super Bowl? For some stories — as in a pre-election poll — all  of  the  techniques  of  a  scientific  opinion  sampling may   be   required.   In   other   instances,   reactions   and comments  may  result  in  a  lively  feature  story. Depending  on  the  subject,  the  symposium  (or  group) interview  may  bring  out  opinions  of  importance, entertainment or merely the views of the “man on the street” on some subject of general interest. NEWS   CONFERENCE.—   In  recent  years,  an increasingly  popular  phenomenon  of  journalism  has developed — the news conference. By presenting news conferences  “live”  on  television,  President  Kennedy raised them to one of the most potent forces in the public exchange  of  opinion  between  the  people  and  their government. For close to 70 years, in a different format, the  news  conference  has  been  an  important  source  of news. The person interviewed at a news conference may be the President of the United States, the Chief of Naval Operations, a senior government official, the manager of a big league team, a movie star plugging a new motion picture or any other person promoting what is believed to be a news story of interest to the public. As in every interview  story,  preliminary  groundwork  pays  off;  a knowledge   of   the   interviewee’s   background   is indispensable. During the interview, an alertness to story possibilities  often  leads  to  unexpected  results. Additional  details  on  news  conferences  are  covered later in this chapter. PREPARED    QUESTION    INTERVIEW.— When  direct  person-to-person  questioning  cannot  be arranged  with  an  important  news  source,  journalists occasionally resort to giving that source a set of prepared questions to which a reply is requested. More often than not,  however,  the  questions  go  unheeded.  When  the journalist does get a reply, a major news story generally results. In   every   interview   assignment,   the   journalist’s objective is always the same — to ferret out as much news, details, significance and color about a personality or event as possible. The success of the story depends on the quantity and quality of the information gleaned from the interview and the journalist’s sense of news values  and  writing  ability. Interview  Tips The manner in which you prepare for conducting interviews can often determine the successor future of those  projects.  What  follows  are  10  tips  on  handling interview assignments that should prove useful to you. 1.   Know   what   you   want.   Whether   you   are interviewing someone for a hard news story or you are on an assignment for a feature, remember you are the one who will have to write the story. This means that you must bear in mind the essence of the story you are after  or  the  angle  you  want  to  develop.  If  you  are covering afire, what are the things you should find out? They will include whether anyone was hurt, the extent of  the  damage,  the  cause  of  the  fire,  how  it  was discovered, which fire stations responded, how long it took to put out the blaze and many other facts. The same kind of analysis must be applied to all stories.  This  will  guide  you  in  your  questioning,  and most important, in your search for details. Learn how to dig for facts. Be alert, interested and curious. Details are more  vivid  than  generalities.  For  example,  if  your subject casually mentions he was the editor of a college newspaper, find out the name of the college and when the  position  was  held.  These  are  simple,  natural questions that will come to the minds of some of your readers; do not leave them unsatisfied. Every story is unique. It will differ from others in many details. Unless you know what to look for and how to get it through proper questioning, your story will be incomplete. 7-5