Summary MEDIA INTERVIEWS

Effective Media Interview Techniques The news media help shape public opinion on health issues. A basic understanding of a reporter's job and a few interviewing techniques can increase your effectiveness in communicating key messages in interviews. Most journalists are professionals and have degrees in journalism or related fields. Although professionally trained as reporters, they are not necessarily content experts on every subject they cover. They rely on experts for facts and commentary. Reporters work in a competitive environment. Tight space, time constraints, and decisions made by editors, directors, and producers ultimately determine what stays or gets cut from a story. Reporters who write for monthly publications such as magazines have longer lead times, but television reporters often get assignments in the morning to produce news stories for the evening news. This means less time to research stories, interview sources, and write.