Arnold Gives Tips for Effective Interviewing to Journalism Students

George Arnold said Tueday in his presentation to a Marshall University News Writing class that confidence and a professional attitude are vital for effective interviewing.

Arnold, former professor at the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism at Marshall University and widely-recognized author of the "Media Writer's Handbook", outlined many effective interviewing tips that the future journalists can use. Confidence was the main tip that he gave to the students.

"Act confident, regardless of whether you feel confident. If you seem scared or unsure of yourself, your source won't have much confidence in you and may withold information out of fear of being misquoted."

Arnold also said that being prepared is very important to conduct a professional interview. He focused on telling the students to be diligent researchers by finding out as much about the topic and source as possible. He said that, "Confidence comes from being prepared."

Another important tip that he talked about was that it is very important to keep yourself out of the interview. The story is about the source, not about you, so it is vital to ask the questions and keep them simple and brief.

Arnold told a story about when he was covering NASCAR and was asked to interview driver Junior Johnson. He said that all he could get from Johnson were short answers like yes, no, and um-hmm. So he was able to improvise by interviewing other drivers to get his story about Johnson.

He also said that observation, setting, and being courteous are all important for effective interviews.