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TV News Reporting and Production MCM 516

LESSON 36

INTERVIEWS, VOX POPS AND PUBLIC OPINIONS

Setting Up A Typical On-Location News Interview

For better or worse, interviews are the basic staple of news and documentaries.

There are two basic ways of handling an interview: one designed for an extended interview and

one for a short interview segment, the kind that is typical for TV news.

1. For an extended interview you could start out by lighting and micing the set for the "A" and "B"

camera positions at the same time and set up cameras in the A and B.

The position B camera can then get close-up shots of the reporter and over-the-shoulder shots with the

back of interview subject. Even when the person being interviewed is speaking, this will provide

reporter reaction shots and shots that can be used as insert shots to cover edits in the dialogue of the

person being interviewed.

Camera position A may be focused on the person being interviewed and provides the same type of shots

from this angle.

During editing you always have the choice of two camera angles, which means you have much more

creative control. Even so, this approach requires much more set-up time for shooting the interview and

editing time to put it together.

2. For a short interview it's easier and takes less equipment to first light and mic camera position "A."

Then after you get all of your A-roll footage, move the camera to position "B," mic the reporter, and

move your lights to the appropriate position for this (reverse) angle.

In the latter case the camera is first set up in position "A" and focused on the interview subject. The

reporter asks all of his or her questions and the responses are recorded on what we've called an "A-roll."

Note that both close-ups and over-the-shoulder shots are possible from this angle.

Then the camera is moved to position "B." With the camera focused on the reporter, all of the questions

are then asked over again.

This time, however, the interview subject does not answer the questions. In fact, if you can do without

the over-the-shoulder shots, the interview subject doesn't even have to be there at all. The reporter

simply looks at a "spot on the wall" behind where the person was sitting and re-asks the questions.

Remember that a five- to eight-second pause should separate each question, especially if you are using

videotape. Reporter reaction shots or "noddies," are also recorded from this angle.

During editing, the goal will be to condense things as much as possible and still remain true to the

subject's answers. When you cut out an unnecessary segment of an answer, you can cover the resulting

jump cut with a "noddie," an insert shot, or a cutaway.

For short questions, you might to opt to eliminate the shot of the reporter and simply use the audio of

the reporter's original question while holding a shot on the person being interviewed.

Sometimes a reporter's question will be obvious in an answer and you can save time by not using the

question. Remember, the faster you can move things along without sacrificing clarity, the better.

One of the most difficult aspects of editing an interview, especially when considerable editing and

rearranging has to be done, is to achieve smooth linking from one audio segment to the next. This

includes preserving the brief pauses that normally occur in conversation.

Although editing approaches differ, for interviews most editors first concentrate on audio. Once they

have a tightly edited "radio program," they go back and cover the video jump cuts with insert shots,

reaction shots, and cutaways.

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TV News Reporting and Production MCM 516

Reporter's Checklist

Broadcast news is a highly competitive business and in the rush to get a story on the air it's sometimes

tempting to guess at facts or use information from a questionable source.

However, errors in stories not only damage a station's credibility but they can derail a reporter's

professional future. Here are five points to keep in mind when writing news stories.

1. Question those who claim to be a witness to an event and confirm that they really were in a position

to see what happened.

2. Use a second source to double-check information that seems surprising or may be in doubt.

3. Double-check all names, titles, and places, and, when necessary, write out the pronunciation of names

phonetically.

4. When writing the story, carefully check spelling and grammar; do the math on numbers.

5. Make sure that sound bites selected during editing accurately reflect what the person meant.

News Producer's Checklist

Once reporters turn in their stories and a news producer or director takes over, many decisions must still

be made before the stories are ready for broadcast.

Among other things, the stories must be reviewed for balance, lead-ins (story introductions) must be

written, and appropriate graphics must be prepared to support the stories.

Here are five points that should be considered before the newscast goes on the air.

1. Review stories for a balance in views, gaps, and missing information.

2. Double-check phone numbers by calling them; double-check web addresses by visiting the sites.

(People are known to get very upset if their telephone number is erroneously given out and they have

noting to do with the issue.)

3. Check graphics for accuracy.

4. Make sure the lead-ins to stories and related news promos accurately reflect the content and nature of

the stories.

5. Step back and view the overall newscast and make sure that the most important stories of the day

have been covered and that they accurately reflect the most current information and developments.

Do reporters sometimes get things wrong? Certainly. Not only do they have human frailties, but are

they are fighting deadlines and constant pressure to beat the competition.

News Bias

Conservatives think that TV news has a liberal bias and liberals feel that news has a conservative bias.

Being a human endeavor, total objectively in news is impossible, of course. When you analyze bias

complaints you are apt to conclude that bias is defined as "any view that differs from mine."

Although the media is often seen as having a liberal bias, it has been shown that most of the large

broadcast operations are owned or managed by individuals who, almost without exception, hold views

that are politically and socially to the right of center.

Bias can stem just as much from what TV news reports as what it doesn't report.

When it comes to politics, great effort goes into trying to keep certain things from becoming public. For

example, it has been well documented that many embarrassing government documents that have nothing

to do with national security are marked "classified" simply to keep the information from the public.

To help address this issue The Freedom of Information Act allows citizens and reporters access to some

government documents.

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TV News Reporting and Production MCM 516

Although the process of obtaining documents can be fraught with red tape and delays, and key

information is often blacked out, passage of The Freedom of Information Act represented a major step

forward for investigative journalism.

Various independent agencies monitor the media for bias.

INTERVIEW

An interview is a conversation between two or more people (the interviewer and the interviewee)

where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee. Interviews can

be divided into two rough types, interviews of assessment and interviews for information.

Assessment

The most common type of interview for assessment is a job interview between an employer and an

applicant. The goal of such an interview is to assess a potential employee to see if he/she has the social

skills and intelligence suitable for the workplace. Similar interviews are also used for admissions to

schools, allotment of grants, and other areas.

In most developed countries, rules and regulations govern what can be asked in these interviews. Highly

personal questions and those unrelated to the job at hand are forbidden, as are questions which invite

discrimination. However some interviewers tend to ask such questions in order to see how the

interviewee reacts and if (s)he is able to elegantly avert the question.

Information

The second class of interviews are those seeking to gather information about a subject. These types of

interviews are central to the practices of journalism and instructional design. Such interviews are also

important to any non-fiction writer or researcher. In general the quotes and information gathered in

these interviews are used in a publication or edited for broadcast.

Such interviews occur only because the subjects have some interest in being interviewed. There are four

main reasons why subjects agree to be interviewed:

Ego - The desire to be on television and to have one's opinions aired is a strong one-to-many. Many

people enjoy talking about themselves and their lives.

Publicity - Politicians and celebrities are dependent on publicity for their success and an interview is

free advertising. As such many subjects insist upon prominent mentions of their latest book or movie in

the interview. Such promotional interviews are frequently required by contracts.

Money - The issue of whether reporters should pay for interviews is a controversial one. Analysts and

experts are almost always paid, and this is often an important source of income to them. Most media

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TV News Reporting and Production MCM 516

outlets have rules against paying eyewitnesses for interviews, in part because this only encourages the

fabrication of fraudulent stories in the hopes of being paid. A major exception to this are some tabloids,

especially British tabloids. Other media outlets often wine and dine sought after subjects and give them

other such perks.

Helpfulness - many subjects agree to an interview simply to help the reporter. This is true of most

eyewitnesses and help explain why many famous individuals agree to grant interviews for items such as

school papers.

Even after an interview has been granted the subject normally imposes conditions. Almost all interviews

have a time limit. The greater the fame and importance of a subject the more limitations they demand.

These includes subject matters that are off limits, a veto over the final piece, or even a full list of

questions provided in advance. Some politicians, notably Helmut Kohl (Germany), have avoided giving

interviews to the press, whereas many others consider this a necessary aspect of political campaigning.

There are several other rules to interviews. If a subject declares that what they say is "off the record" a

reporter is not supposed to use such information. If material is "Background" the material can be used

but its source cannot be mentioned, if it is "deep background" then the information cannot be used on

its own, and can only confirm information already obtained from another source. A subject may also

declare that their comments should have no "attribution." In such cases the name of the subject cannot

be mentioned, but they should simply be referred to as "a source in ".

These rules are unwritten and in the past reporters have broken them. However if a journalist published

material that was off the record they are unlikely to be able to use that source again. They are known as

a "burnt source." Moreover news of such betrayals spreads and a reporter may have trouble with other

sources.

The tone of an interviewer is also important. Tough interviewers that are honest and forthrightly pose

important and difficult questions are appealing to audiences, but not to subjects. An interviewer that

develops a reputation for such aggressiveness may soon find it difficult to convince subjects to sit for an

interview. A subject that is offended during an interview may put an early halt to the discussion.

Politicians, celebrities, and experts on certain subjects are frequently interviewed. Sometimes interviews

are ended early (usually by the interviewee). Well known investigative journalists can often get

interviews only under false pretenses. Conversely, an interviewer that asks only "soft" questions will

lose the respect of audiences and colleagues.

The ideal interview is considered to be a face to face one. Most newspapers order reporters to

specifically mention that an interview was conducted by telephone or e-mail.

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