Experienced journalists must distinguish between editorial and factual articles.
An editorial interview mixes a factual interview with the author's editorial biases. Reporters wishing to pursue this kind of article must be careful with their words. Most interview candidates want their views to be accurately represented. If an author adds his editorial bias to the written version, he risks slanting the person's words, and using the subject's words out of context rather than representing the original intent.
Instructions
Conducting the Interview
1. Prepare questions ahead of time. During an interview, the conversation is likely to wander. Prepared questions will help the interviewer stay on point during the allotted time.
2. Arrive ahead of time. The person being interviewed is making space in his schedule for the interviewer. Promptness demonstrates respect, and it gives the interviewer time to clear his head and review any notes before the interview.
3. Request permission to record audio or video of the interview at the beginning of the appointment. Explain to the subject that recording is the best way to capture the information and eliminate many questions while the interviewer writes his article.
4. Spend time casually chatting with the subject before beginning any investigative questioning. By setting a casual and informal tone, both the subject and interviewer are more likely to relax and be more honest and transparent during the interview.
Writing the Article
5. Represent the subject factually. Avoid making generalizations, assumptions or stereotypical statements that do not accurately represent the subject or his or her views. An article that is based on an interview should be as factual as possible.
6. Refer back to notes and recordings to verify facts. During the interview, facts may have gone unnoticed, or inaccurately inferred. By referring to hard data, the article will be factually accurate.
7. Use outside sources to research any questionable information from the interview. Our memories are fallible, and ideas from an interview that seem questionable should be verified before you commit them to print.
8. While writing the story, differentiate editorial ideas from facts and data secured in the interview. Any editorial ideas should be clearly identified in the body of the story so that the writer does not appear to be putting words into the mouth of the interview subject. Also, cite the sources for information not secured in the interview.
