The Craft of Interviewing

Rating:
Summary: A Smart Part of a Journalist's Library
Review: "The Craft of Interviewing" by John Brady is just one book a beginning journalist should read. Most of journalism involves local newspapers covering local people, and despite how the internet has altered the speed and process of interviewing, good ol' gumshoe journalism still lives and breathes. That's why this book still matters 30 years after it first hit the college bookstores of j-school.

A good interview requires knowledge, diplomacy, fearlessness, rapport, organization, and knowing how to separate and summarize it all for a good story. This book has chapters on all of this. One complete chapter, "Off the Record" discusses some interesting approaches and policies this misunderstood phrase calls for. As you build relationships with key sources, this chapter, and others, can assist you in seeing ways through the thorny challenges of integrity and journalism.

Brady provides anecdotes about complicated interviews and interviewees. Even though these are with celebrities, the examples show the reader how to walk the line carefully and confidently.

"The Craft of Interviewing" by John Brady should not be the only book you read, and probably not your first. I fully recommend it as both a classroom text, and as a personal edification book. Your interviewing will be better you apply what Brady suggests.

Anthony Trendl

Rating:
Summary: A Smart Part of a Journalist's Library
Review: "The Craft of Interviewing" by John Brady is just one book a beginning journalist should read. Most of journalism involves local newspapers covering local people, and despite how the internet has altered the speed and process of interviewing, good ol' gumshoe journalism still lives and breathes. That's why this book still matters 30 years after it first hit the college bookstores of j-school.

A good interview requires knowledge, diplomacy, fearlessness, rapport, organization, and knowing how to separate and summarize it all for a good story. This book has chapters on all of this. One complete chapter, "Off the Record" discusses some interesting approaches and policies this misunderstood phrase calls for. As you build relationships with key sources, this chapter, and others, can assist you in seeing ways through the thorny challenges of integrity and journalism.

Brady provides anecdotes about complicated interviews and interviewees. Even though these are with celebrities, the examples show the reader how to walk the line carefully and confidently.

"The Craft of Interviewing" by John Brady should not be the only book you read, and probably not your first. I fully recommend it as both a classroom text, and as a personal edification book. Your interviewing will be better you apply what Brady suggests.

Anthony Trendl

Rating:
Summary: If you're an easily offended woman, you are not a journalist
Review: Funny, I don't remember the parts about batting eyelashes and such. This book covers the fundamentals of interviewing and pre interview research.

I found the book to be a useful tool for conducting interviews, and think that it would be very helpful to beginners. I am a nurse turned free lance writer, and the techniques and tips for securing interviews were helpful to me.

I particularly liked the section on the "wrong questions"--this should be mandatory reading for local and national news reporters.

Rating:
Summary: Not a Cookbook, but a Guide for Thinkers
Review: Some people seem to be looking for just one way to conduct an interview: John Brady describes several. If you are looking for something like a cookbook where the specific questions you should ask and in what order are listed, you won't like this book. If you are looking to develop your own interview style and want to pick and choose from a variety of methods, then you will find Brady's book an excellent source of information. Brady covers everything from getting appointments to to research to notetaking to tape recorders to knowing when the interview is over. He shows how different people handle interviews over the phone or by letter. When you finish this book, the choice of what questions to ask and how you should go about the interview remain up to you, but Brady's book will have given you a solid base.

Just about the only topic that is uncovered (due to the date of the book) is how to conduct an interview by Internet Chat. But a smart reader can easily adapt Brady's ideas to that situation.

Rating:
Summary: Not a Cookbook, but a Guide for Thinkers
Review: Some people seem to be looking for just one way to conduct an interview: John Brady describes several. If you are looking for something like a cookbook where the specific questions you should ask and in what order are listed, you won't like this book. If you are looking to develop your own interview style and want to pick and choose from a variety of methods, then you will find Brady's book an excellent source of information. Brady covers everything from getting appointments to to research to notetaking to tape recorders to knowing when the interview is over. He shows how different people handle interviews over the phone or by letter. When you finish this book, the choice of what questions to ask and how you should go about the interview remain up to you, but Brady's book will have given you a solid base.

Just about the only topic that is uncovered (due to the date of the book) is how to conduct an interview by Internet Chat. But a smart reader can easily adapt Brady's ideas to that situation.