The Interview: background and questions

As we discussed in class today, an interview requires you to think of questions and then more questions and then more.

Here's brief recap of what you need to remember:
-- Don't ask questions that might get a yes/no answer ("Did your cat survive? isn't as good as "What happened after you took your cat to the vet?")
-- Don't stop after the first general answer to your question. Ask a follow-up question. ("Why'd you rear-end the guy? I was changing CDs.") Press for specific details ("What CD? Britney Spears.")
-- As for questions that will elicit thoughtful responses, or the subject's feelings or emotions or beliefs, etc. ("How did you grandmother feel about being separated from her parents in a strange, new country?")

And while we didn't cover this too much in class today, another very important part of the formal interview is preparation. Before you interview anyone on almost any topic, it's good to do your homework. Make sure you know the topic as well as you can, so you can keep the interview going as long as possible.

So here's your homework for Thursday:

1) Pick one of these three topics. I've chosen them because they're "talkers" -- things in the current news that everyone has heard about and is talking about.
-- The controversy over North Korea's claim to have conducted a nuclear test.
-- The scandal around U.S. Rep. Mark Foley and how it may or may not affect the November congressional elections.
-- The question of whether or not U.S. citizens feel more or less safe today than they did at 9/11.

2) Once you've picked your topic, research it in the library databases (Nexis, Proquest, Factiva). Make sure that you really know what has happened recently on these topics and you also know what kinds of opinions people (real folks, politicians, pundits, etc.) have on your topic.

3)Then, using the research you've done, imagine that I'm your editor, and I've assigned you a story on what people around our town are saying or thinking or feeling about your chosen topic. Come up with a list of at least six questions that you think might be good starting points for an interview with an Average Joe or Jane.

4) Bring your questions and background research to class with you on Thursday so we can discuss it all.

Kill 'em off, and then write it up!

It's an old newspaper cliche: the new kids have to write the obituaries.

And while that's not exactly true, there's good value in the art of the obit: you're basically writing a profile, and the lessons learned in doing that will stand you well in any kind of writing you do.

For this homework assignment, the main goal is to keep practicing good backgrounding skills, using Lexis and/or Proquest through the CSULB library.

Here's what to do:

1) Go the Los Angeles Times obituary page and read a few random obituaries to get a sense of the style they use.

1a) Or, amuse yourself and/or learn from an obit I wrote recently. Here's the web version which was done quickly to get online. And here's the longer version, that ran in the paper the next day.

Basically, in the lead you want to say that So-And-So, who was famouse/noteworthy for this-and-that, has died. And in a separate short sentence, how old he or she was. Or, as you'll notice in my second version, you can make it a little more feature-y at the top, and get the death/age into the third graf or so.

2) Then pick someone from the list below, complete with fake death and location, and research their background on Nexis or Factiva.

3) Then put it all together in an obit of at least six paragraphs -- the lead and five or more grafs of background/profile material.

Remember to read some obits on that Web page to get the style down, and also that even though I've given you some absurd ways to die you have to write this as straight news.

Your Candidates for Death include:

-- 50 Cent; fell over board while bass fishing on Lake Okeechobee and drowned.

-- Woody Allen; hit on the head by a gargoyle that fell off his Manhattan apartment building.

-- Long Beach Grand Prix winner Paul Tracy; crashed during practice laps after water balloon hits his windshield.

-- Paris Hilton; took overdose of pills at her home in Beverly Hills after another scandalous sex tape appeared online and nobody noticed.

-- Keith Richards; natural causes, in his sleep at his country house in England.

-- Nick Nolte; car crash on Malibu Canyon Road.

-- David Hasselhoff; heart attack while sunbathing on vacation in Cannes, France.

-- Roger Clemens; side effects from steroids, while watching the playoffs.

-- Tommy Hilfiger; complications during face lift surgery in Beverly Hills.

Any questions, call or e-mail me, and have fun!