TV Star Interviews

Today, I conducted a brief interview with Steve Arnold, star of the Science Channel television show "Meteorite Me." The season premier of the third season of the show is tonight (November 28) at 10:00 p.m. and both Steve and his cohost Geoff are looking to remind old fans and alert potential new fans of that fact.

I had spoken with Steve last year, as well, and published several fairly popular articles about the show. Today's interview ended up being published on three Yahoo! web properties: Associated Content, Yahoo! News, and Yahoo! TV. It'll be interesting to compare the popularity of the three separate web locations of the same article.

Celebrity interviews are examples of going straight to the source for information. From a journalism perspective it's the same as interviewing the victim of a crime or other person with first-hand knowledge of an event or topic. Celebrities with something to promote may be easier to get as interview subjects because they also benefit by granting the interview as long as they get their plug into the interview. When the topic of the interview and the event being plugged coincide, such as an article about the season premier of a television show, everybody wins.

---
Meanwhile, as per my last post, I'm still working on discussing the situation on the streets in Egypt with people who live there. I was surprised, although I shouldn't have been, that the first two people I contacted essentially refused to speak about it, saying they didn't know anything about it. I suspect that they simply didn't feel safe discussing their feelings about the current political situaion in Egypt.

Live, From the Revolution

There are people who are qualified experts on the political happenings of various places around the world, because the study of that place is central to their work. They can offer valid and valuable insight into the events, the causes, and key players in major events within their sphere of expertise. My discussion with David Patel of Cornell University who specializes in Middle East politics and political culture was invaluable in helping to sort out the key players in the protests that resulted in the ouster of Hosni Mubarek from Egypt, for example.

At the time, he told me, "A lot of people have incentive to make sure the military comes out, as a whole, in a strong position, economically, perhaps even more importantly than politically." That statement has proven to be quite accurate as the military is now running the country, most recently it appears with as firm an iron fist as Mubarek ever did.

Sometimes, however, the only expertise needed for an accurate assessment is having eyes and ears in the right place at the right time. How do average people living in Egypt see the new regime? How have things changed? Do they feel as if they've had the revolution stolen out from under them? These are questions that can only be answered by the people of Egypt.

Toward that end, I am working on contacting a number of ordinary people who are not only in Egypt right now as a new set of protests threatens the country's stability once again, but who were also present during the first set of protests in January and February of this year.

Banned Books Week Interview

In 2011, Banned Books Week runs from September 24th through October 1st this year. Contrary to popular opinion, book banning and censorship is alive and well in the United States. The only thing that's changed is the language used to describe it. These days, books are "challenged," meaning that some group feels they should be banned from schools or libraries. The challenged books then undergo a review process, but often end up being removed without anyone ever saying that the book was banned.

Another tactic is to just ban part of the book. This can happen when those buying schools books tell the publisher that they won't accept a textbook or literature anthology for use in the classroom unless certain specific changes are made. This can result in rampant and heavy-handed editing of classic works of literature or even changing history itself to make it more politically correct.

I spoke with Joan DelFattore, professor of English and legal studies at the University of Delaware to discuss textbook adoption and classroom censorship that is taking place in high schools at the state level and some of the issues that creates when the kids affected by it reach college.

Here are the links to the three part series of interviews as published at Yahoo! News:

• Textbook Adoption: The New Face of Book Banning
• Do Schools Need National Curriculum Standards?
• Is Your School Board Qualified to Rewrite Shakespeare?

Read them to find out what's going on in the classroom and how three states can effectively dictate what gets included in textboks all across the country.

2001 Anthrax Attacks Remembered

This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. It was just a week after that that letters containing deadly highly purified anthrax spores were sent out to several media outlets in New York City. Those letters were followed up with similar letters to Senators Leahy and Daschle in Washington, DC.

The anthrax spores were so easily spread that postal workers employed in the post offices which handles the letters began contracting anthrax. One woman in Connecticut died after a letter she received from an unrelated source simply came into contact with one of the anthrax letters. In all 5 died, more than 30 were infected, and thousands were medicated as a precaution.

I recently spoke to one of the people responsible for sequencing the genome of the anthrax spores used in the attack to determine its origin for the FBI. I asked her to talk about the investigation and whether we are safer today because of new precautions put in place after those anthrax attacks in 2001. Read the interviews at the following links:

• Are We Safer frm Bioterror attacks after the 2001 Anthrax Letter Attack?
• Investigator Discusses 2001 Anthrax Attacks

View from the top

The subject of my latest series of interviews have climbed to the summit of Mount Everest,but that isn't his primary claim to fame. Scott Parazynski is best known as a veteran NASA astronaut who has travelled 23 million miles aboard five space shuttle missions. He has been on numerous spacewalks totalling 47 hours outside the spacecraft. He was also instrumental in the development of a heat tile repair system to prevent future accidents like the one that claimed Columbia and it's crew.

It was a fun interview, and I was able to cover a lot of groun: from Mount Everest to Mars, so to speak. The first one covers what it's liek to look down from the top of Everest and to look down on the Earth from space. It really changes one's global perspective, Parazynski says. Read more about his feelings about the fragility of Earth at this link.

The second part of the interview dealt with the end of the Space Shuttle program. Parazynski disagrees with the decision to retire the space shuttles before a new crew launch vehicle is available. Read more about this and why he resolved to fly one more time to honor the crew lost in the Columbia accident here.

The third part of the interview is more or less a catch all for everything else that we discussed. What's next for the future of NASA? How does the human body change in the absence of gravity? What are the medical risks of space travel? What do Space Station resident do when a potentially harmful burst of solar flare radiation is heading their way? How does Russian Cosmonaut training differ from NASA astronaut training? If these questions intrigue you, or you're curious about what else I asked, read the third part of  my interview with astronaut Scott Parazynski here.

MTV Anniversary Interviews

A fellow writer, Kimberly Morgan, managed two great interviews on the 30th anniversary of the first MTV broadcast. They used to play music videos and the initials used to stand for Music Television... Those were the good old days. For those like me who remember what MTV was supposed to be or those who don't remember, but are interested, thsese two interviews are highly recommended reading:
Martha Quinn, Voice of the 80's
Nina Blackwood, Still Rocking
Kim did  agreat job securig these interviews in conjunction with the anniversay date. In interviews, like everything else, timing can be very important. Celebrity interviews are great, but when you can wrap them around a piece of timely news like the MTV anniversary, they can be more than just entertainment.

Debt ceiling crisis interview

My latest published interview was with an economist who told me that the debt ceiling crisis was the result of "an accident of history." He also said he thoguht the Tea party had fallen under the spell of groupthink and was unable to see the consequences of their actions. Whatever happens, if the Tea party gets what it wants or if they block the debt ceiling increase, it looks like they will cause a double-dip recession, putting more people out of work in America.

Here's the link to the complete debt ceiling article.
Part 2 of the interview: "How a U.S. government debt default will affect the average American."

Finding Interview Candidates: Work for it

I've talked about getting qualified experts to comment on current events and using your network of friends and acquaintances for find people with specific experiences or expertise for interviews. What do you do when you want to interview a specific prominent individual?

The short answer is that you figure out who is the gatekeeper for access to that person and work through them. For a top executive, that's probably their executive assistant. Most of the executives I have known would be absolutely lost without their executive assistants telling them where to go and when. These people set appointments and make sure the boss gets there when they're supposed to be there. They screen phone calls and decide who gets through and who doesn't. They pass on requests for meetings -- or they don't. You want this person working with you, not against you.

FOr a celebrity, unless you have a personal contact that can faciliatate access for you, your best bet is usually to go through their publicist. It's the publicist's job to decide which publicity opportunities are a good idea for the celebrity's image and which will be effective promotion vehicles for the celebity's latest project.

As a professional writer or journalist, you have something of value to offer to the executive whow ants to get his company's message out, or to the celebrity who wants to promote their latest project. They may have a favorite charity that they really would like to promote. You need to remember that by interviewing them, you are providing a service to them as well.

You should make it clear to the gatekeeper that you are in a position to provide a service. Tell them where the interview will be published. Who is your target audience and why they would be interested in the celebrity's or executive's message. "My column (or beat) is targeted toward successful, young professionals and I thnk they'd be interested in hearing about your new technology," or "My primary audience is the parents who control what music and movies their teenage children watch." Ideally, you'd be able to match your target audience with their target market.

Do a little research before trying to schedule the interview and figure out what the potential interviewee wants to talk about. Do they have a new book or movie? Did their company just announce a new product line or a superlative quarterly report? Who do they want to hear about this new project? Do they

In other words, figure out what's in it for them and mention that thing as something you'd like to talk about in your article. That doesn't mean that this is the only thing you'll ask about in your interview, but make it clear that they will have the opportunity to get theri message out as well.

In this position you are the salesperson and the marketer. You are also the product. You need to figure out a message that will appeal to exactly two potential customers (the gatekeeper and the potential interviewee) and convince them that an interview with you is in their best interest. Even the best salesperson doesn't close every sale. Sometimes you'll get a resounding "No" or worse yet, your call won't be returned.

Every salesman will tell you, that out of every ten people there are three who would absolutely love to buy your product. To find those three, however, you have to ask all ten. So keep at it and don't be discouraged by rejection. Learn from your successes and your rejections. Refine your approach and go get the next one.

The importance of paying attention to relationships

The other day I conducted an interview with Chair of Cornell University's Department of History, Barry Strauss. We talked about a few subjects, mainly his assertion that the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan could result in the downfall of the American Empire. I got a total of three articles from the interview, two Q&A format and one narrative (yet to be written) on the economic ascendency of China.

The second article, American Power Depends on the Threat of Military Intervention, Says Expert, I was told, was pitched for the front page at Yahoo.com by my news editor. Alas, it seems to have faced too much competition for that spot, but it's still nice to know that my editor, at least thought it merited front page placement in conjunction with the President's speech on June 29th.

It was also nice to hear the following from Cornell's Press Relations Office after they were published:

 

"Brad,

Both of these Q&As are great, you guys had one epic conversation!  You always do a top-notch, professional job with our professors, thank you!

Cheers,

Syl

-- 

Press Relations Office

Cornell University"

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post about finding interview candidates, Most universities and larger private companies have a press relations office or at least a person responsible for press and public relations. Establishing a dialogue with them can help open doors within the organization, and even help give you a priority pass to the source if something really big happens within the organization.

Let's say, for example, that I want to interview the new head coach or Heismann Trophy candidate quarterback at a prestigious football university leading up to some important bowl game. Although the sports perss relations may be run out of a different office entirely, it's usually a pretty good bet that the main press relations office can get me through with a good recommendation, if I've taken the time to communicate with them on other issues so that they know me and the quality of my work.

I'm not saying you can't challenge your interviewees, or even call bull#&$! on some of their statements if appropriate (in a professionally worded manner, of course). I'm just saying be fair, be honest, and be communicative. Send a link back to the press office after the article is published with a thank you note. Not only will it keep you top of mind, but who knows, they may link your article from their press page.

As a journalist, as in most professions, it, literally, pays to pay attention to personal relationships with everyone with whom you come into contact in the course of your work.

Enjoying the process

I've already remarked about how much I enjoy conducting interviews. They offer me a unique learning experience that I've compared to a private one-on-one college class tailored specifically to me. I can ask anything and drill down on anything that interests me. I'm a curious person, so that is very satisfying.

I just spent an hour talking with the CEO of one of the country's largest fireworks companies for a couple of Fourth of July question and answer pieces requested by Y!CN. It occurred to me afterwards that the feeling I get after completeing an interview is very similar to, though at a somewhat lesser level than the rush I used to get just after finishing a kick-boxing match. Back in the day, I'd walk around with my feet several feet off the ground for days after a fight, while it was diminished if I didn't do well in the fight, it was still there. I actually get that same feeling after a good interview, although my feet may only be a few inches of the ground by comparison.

I feel good, fully energized, awake and... fully present, I guess.  At any rate, I just wanted to take a minute to say how much I really love my work.

Natural disasters: Am I at risk?

One of the ways we can find original angles for a news event is to think about what we ourselves would like to know about the event. When natural disasters strike, for example, everyone's first thoughts, of course, go toward the victims. What is the scale of the catastrophe and how can we help? As we read more and more about the devastation and see photos and video of the aftermath, no matter what the cause, we start to wonder if it could happen here? Am I at risk? That's only natural.

In the case of the devastating Japanese earthquake in March of 2011, there were actually two interconnected disasters, three if you count the resulting nuclear power plant radiation leaks. The earthquake itself triggered a massive tsunami that washed entire villages out to sea with just a few minutes warning.

The east coast of the United States has been spared from disasters like these although it does face hurricane risks each year. Have we just been lucky, or is the east coast relatively immune from these kinds of cataclysmic events? I spoke an expert in plate tectonics and geological science to find out.

Dr. James Tull, a professor of geological sciences at Florida State University, explains the risk and history of major earthquakes in areas of the United States away from the well-know west coast fault lines: Q&A: Earthquake risk in the eastern United States.

Dr. Tull also discusses the risk of major tsunami damage in the United States, including the west coast:
Could a catastrophic tsunami hit the United States?

ROR: Maximizing your return on research

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I have a number of "beats" or automatically recurring assignments at the Yahoo! Contributor Network. All the news beat articles that I submit end up published at Yahoo! News. One of the beats is an open topic Question and Answer format beat meant for original interviews. It is the one that pays the most upfront. It's a beat I proposed, and for which I negotiated the upfront rate.

Lately, I have been getting additional interview assignments outside of my regular beat for Y! News. These interview assignments tend to be more highly targeted. Sometimes they'll ask for an interview with someone who possesses a particular expertise and, at least once, they even asked for a specific individual by name.  Obviously, these rely on my ability to get in touch with the specific individual requested in order for me to complete the assignments.

These assignments tell me in the details that I am the only one receiving the assignment so if I don't want to claim it or can't get the sprecific individual to agree to an interview, to email them back and let them know so they can plan accordingly. The first one of these I received, I refused as the offered upfront was less than my standing offer for my Q&A beat. When I pointed this out, they increased the offer and I accepted.

Once I have my interview material, there are often several different angles the article can take or it might be one longer article covering several topics that were discussed. Generally, I shoot an email back to the Y!CN contact who requested the interview and propose several different angles. For example, recently I was asked to interview someone who had direct involvment with the space shuttle. I managed to get George Whitesides who was the Chief of Staff for Administrator Bolden at NASA until around the middle of 2010.

After a great discussion, I had what seemed like four possible main thrusts for an article. Since the original assignment said that Y!CN had reason to believe that they might get featured placement on the front page of Yahoo.com for the assigned interview, I wanted to run the angles by my contact to see if one was preferred given their front page plans. My four proposed angles were:

1)    Q-and-A: Former NASA Chief of Staff Talks about Government’s Role in the Future of Space Travel

2)      Q-andA: Virgin Galactic Chief discusses the end of the space shuttle era

3)      Q-and-A: Virgin Galactic Chief gives update on passenger flights

4)      Virgin Galactic Chief suggests top 3 big goals for NASA to inspire America again

I though they might want option #2 and/or #4. My contact said he'd ask the Yahoo! front page people what they wanted, but he, personally thought they were all excellent.

So, without dragging out this story any longer, my Y!CN contact said that he didn't get a preference from Yahoo! so I should write up all four angles (without duplicating any of the actual interview material). That meant four separate upfront payments totalling $120 for this interview (plus the usual ongoing page view royalties).

This kind of multiple payout for these interviews has happened several times recently and it changes the financial equation and makes them much more worthwhile. While page view bonuses can exceed the upfront payment, sometimes by a wide margin, there is no guarantee of that, and sometimes they don't do well at all. I prefer to get a decent upfront so that if page views don't come in as expected, my time is still covered.

The Bottom Line

Whatever kinds of research you do, look for ways to use that research in multiple ways. Don't just respin it, nobody wants to read the same thing restated, but apply different aspects of what you learned to different angles. Getting multiple quality articles out of your research makes it economically feasible to spend more time doing higher quality research which, in turn, increases the quality of your articles and their usefulness to your readers.

Networking and contact lists

An interview with a newsmaker, subject matter expert, corporate executive or anyone else benefits a journalist in two ways. First you get the interview and can use it for one or more articles right away. Second, it provides you with a resource for future articles. If you keep good records, over time, you'll develop your own Rolodex of database of experts and newsmakers that you can contact to comment on relevant news stories.

For example, I interviewed the Polling Director at the University of New Hampshire for a story on GOP infighting in New Hampshire during the 2010 election season. He, of course, is an expert on polling methodologies, politics (national and local), and political history. At the conclusion of the interview, I made sure I had all his preferred contact information and he invited me to call him for a comment anytime. So, every time there's a primary, debate, election, or other political development (a President receives a public approval polling bump after a notorious terrorist is killed, for example), I have a source who can provide an expert opinion and who is just a phone call away.

One advantage of using these types of contacts for comments is that your article will have 100% original and newsworthy content that isn't found anywhere else on the web or in print. Another is that you automatically have  original and possibly local (if your source is local to your region) angles for almost any national news event once you have a good selection of sources in your file. This should translate into higher upfront payments (at places like Yahoo! Contributor Network), more opportunities, and more incoming links to your articles, from top bloggers and from other well-ranked news sites.

Ideally, you'll have multiple sources for each news category or topic. That offers you the ability to have different viewpoints on the same topic or lets you highlight the fact that multiple experts agree. Multiple original sources within an article give your article much stronger credibility and authority.

Once you've collected many sources, however, you may have trouble remember who is who and what they know. I use a Rolodex-like system of paper cards. OK, I admit that I'm old-fashioned. An electronic database would probably work as well, but I find the paper system faster as it doesn't require me to spend time opening the program or worrying about overtaxing my poor overworked laptop CPU.



A database, however, offers you the ability to search multiple fields which is a major aid in finding topic matter experts. To mimic this in my Rolodex system, I file each contact on two or more cards. One is a standard contact card, filed alphabetically by the contact's name (or company, if that is more relevant). The other is like a library's subject matter files. I file it under the particular topic or topics of expertise for the contact. So a subject matter card might look like this:

Politics (national, NH, polls, history)
Contact name
Official title (such as director of the University of New Hampshire's Survey Center and an associate professor of political science)
Preferred method of contact
telephone number(s)
Preferred time to call 
email address 
Notes: political leanings (if any and if relevant), areas of particular interest, personality notes (likes to be addressed formally as Dr. so-and-so, for example), any other information that will make the interview smoother or more informative. (Has a brother living in Cairo, Egypt who is a political activist there, for example). Requests a link to articles post-publication.
Author of: List Book Titles and Publication Dates
List of previous contacts: This is a list of everytime I've contacted this individual which includes the date of the contact, method (telephone, email, etc), resulting article title(s).

This last bit lets me know whether I am bothering someone too much or under-utilizing a resource. It also allows me review what I've already discussed with this person so I can ask questions like: "In the September of 2010, you said that you thought any sitting president with a disapproval rating greater than 46% might be expected to face challengers in his own party's primary, citing the Kennedy candidacy of 1980, as an example. In your opinion why hasn't such opposition emerged this year?" It also reminds me whether the interview was amicable or hostile, so I know what to expect going in for any future calls.

So that card would be filed under "P" for politics, but would also be duplicated with the contact's name as the first entry and filed that was as well. With this system, I can quickly find a particular individual or I can pull out a list of political or other subject matter experts from which to choose. A database would have searchable fields for area(s) of expertise. Notes fields might be keyword searchable as well. Some might allow active links to the prior articles in which the source was used.

Whatever system you use, keep excellent records of your contacts and sources. They can be used over and over again. That said, you must be prudent in your use of a contact. Most will certainly not want to be contacted every day to respond to Rush Limbaugh's latest rant. Use them when appropriate, but don't wear out your welcome by calling them too often of for trivial or unrelated matters. What is too often? That will depend upon the individual and you'll have to get a feel for each person.

Establishing a Personal Connection

Ideally, you want to develop a personal relationship with each contact so they feel comfortable talking with you. This will allow a more candid conversation during interviews and may result in them actually contacting you when they have something they consider newsworthy. You should definitely make clear to each contact that you would like them to contact you when they have news they think should be heard. There's nothing better than a good story showing up in your inbox unsolicited. If you have a good relationship with your sources you can occasionaly even just call and ask them "What's news?" in their area of expertise and get an impromtu interview and story idea, but don't overuse this technique or use it before you have a comfortable realtionship with the individual or you might scare them off.

The Ettiquette of Interviews

Which brings us to the matter of etiquette. Very few people want to talk openly with, or be helpful to, someone they don't like. Always be polite and professional with your interview sources. Even if the interview is adversarial in nature (they are being misleading or uncooperative), be polite and professional, and act just as if they were cooperating (although, your questions should still dig into the matter and try to reveal the truth), your tone and behavior should not show anger or be insulting or accusatory in any way.

If they are saying something you suspect is false, then confusion while showing you have a knowledge of the topic and can't be (easily) fooled is appropriate: "I'm not sure I understand how you draw that conclusion... The budget, as written and as the President signed it, actually contains a net tax reduction averaging $1150 for each household with income under $250,000 annually, a number which includes 93% of American families, yet you say that he has increased taxes for the average American. How do you support that statement?" That's an appropriate and professional question that will be helpful to your readers, while "You're wrong, the President's budget decreases taxes...." or any accusatory words or tone is generally inappropriate (with a very few exceptions which I may discuss at a later date).  It is an even worse sin, by the way, to accept and print as truth an interviewee's statement that you know to be false without challenging it or providing counter-evidence to the reader.

Aside from a solid command of the language, a good list of reliable sources is a journalist's most valuable tool. Cultivate your sources carefully and they will provide a bountiful yield.

Wrapping it up with a conclusion

Generally, when I write up Q-and-A interviews for Yahoo!, I start with an introduction and then leap into the interview itself, letting that stand for itself. With my latest, however, I tried a different approach and included a conclusion section where I offered my interpretation of the main points of the interview. I think I'll use this format more often. To me, it seems to put a bow on it, as it were, or finish the article more elegantly from a stylistic perspective.  It also gives me a chance to either rebut, clarify or elaborate on anything the speaker may have said during the interview.

Here's the article, based upon an interview with Dr. Ronald Fischer of the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, which was originally titled: Study reveals keys to happiness (which I still like better than the one that Yahoo! substituted, although they did ask permission first, so I no have right to complain...) I am curious, though, which title do you think is better and why?

Finding interview candidates: It's who you know

As an ordinary person, we come into contact with many, many people. Family, friends, co-workers, fellow students, business associates, store clerks, doctors, and the list goes on and on. Some of these contacts, like family, may be very close, but how much time to we take to learn about the others?

The more you know about your friends, colleagues, and the other people with whom you come into contact on a regular basis, the more likely you are to learn something interesting, something that mike make them a good resource for an interview, either now or at a future date.

For example, if you know that one of your co-workers has a private pilot's license to fly small aircraft and owns a share of a Cessna with a group of other people, you have a resource to discuss FAA flight regulation, the requirements for filing flight plans over major cities, the cost of airplane ownership, common maintenance issues, and so on.

Most often, we find out about people, their hobbies, interests, and past experiences by simply chatting with them. As good journalists, we should be adept at asking questions. That's not to say we should pry into the private lives of everyone we know, but when something comes up in conversation, draw them out a little. If you simply show you are interested, most people are willing to talk extensively, especially about things they enjoy or have experienced.

When I worked at Bose, for example, one of my colleagues mentioned that he worked for one of the primary space shuttle contractors and actually had a chance to sit in the pilot's seat during the course of his work. I found this interesting and we talked about it. Later on, as the space shuttle era is coming to a close, I sent him a message through Facebook (we have kept in very loose contact through that avenue since I left Bose a few years ago) and asked if I could interview him for a piece that was requested by Yahoo! News. The result was this article.

That lucky coincidence gave me a source with very specific information and a chance to talk with an old friend for a while. It's networking, but it's also paying attention to people and who they are.

I think most of us would be surprised by the collective histories of the people around us. I recall a high school history class assignment that opened my eyes to this subject: interview a grandparent about the Great Depression. My grandmother was born in 1911 to an ordinary New England family, had little more than a fifth grade education and worked during the depression years. She told me about the job she held, the internal politics of promotions, and provided a wealth of rich information that I never would have suspected she carried with her.

Most of our parents and grandparents, if they are still alive, have lived through important historical events that we never saw. They may have fought in World War II or Viet Nam and carry stories that would make excellent features around Memorial Day. They may have "flash bulb memories" of important events that add historical perspective on anniversaries of those events.

Do you know people who have taken part in protests? You probably do without even knowing it. An interview about the effect the protest had on their life and on the issue they were challenging might add an interesting angle to a report on a current protest on a similar or even completely unrelated issue.

Do you know people whose parents or grandparents came from a country currently undergoing a dramatic transformation (like Egypt or Libya)? What is their perspective on the popular uprisings and the nature of the old regime?

Compelling interview candidates are all around us. We just have to notice them. We can do that by chatting and engaging people in conversation as a matter of habit. The next time you go to the doctor's office, ask her what she thinks of some new study that you read about. The next time you talk to your mechanic, get his opinion of these new hybrid cars- do they make his job more difficult?

On the anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day, call a local nursing home or assisted living center and ask if there are any residents who remember it who would be willing to share their story with a journalist for a news article.

Everyone you know is a wealth of information and experience that's been stored up, and the older they are, the more of these experiences they carry with them. Interview candidates with very specific skills and knowledge surround us every day of our lives. As with any journalistic endeavor, all you have to do is ask the right questions.

Finding interview candidates: Go back to school

College professors, by definition, are experts in the subjects they teach. They can speak knowledgeably about their subjects and current events that fall within their spheres of knowledge. A political science professor can talk about the history of partisanship and compare present levels to those at various points in history for example. An Egyptian studies professor who has lived and studied in Egypt can knowledgeably and credibly discuss public protests and the nature of the government hierarchy of Egypt.

College professors, furthermore, are used to talking and explaining, that’s what they do for a living, after all. It’s almost never difficult to get enough information from an interview with a college professor.
By visiting a university’s website, you can find department heads and often direct contact information for each professor. However, by going to the college’s research or publication page, you’ll often find a media contact who can facilitate a contact between you and the person they consider best-equipped to answer your questions. Furthermore, by perusing the most recently published faculty papers, you can find topics that these professors are probably eager to discuss and have publicized.

So, let's look at an example. I'm just going to pick Wake Forest to see what we can find. If I look at their home page, I see a tab on the header labelled NEWS. Clicking that, I am brought to a page that lists a variety of Wake Forest related news items. These include changes in Wake Forest staff, research published by Wake Forest students and faculty, and anything newsworthy about the school. That's helpful, BUT, in the upper right hand corner of that page, is what we're looking for. There's a box labelled "For the Media: sources, topics, research and more." Bingo.

When I go to this page, I find a cornucopia of useful information. There's a section called Story ideas of the week which includes briefs on things like "Finding the good (or at least the best) in natural disasters" which includes events that journalists can cover directly, including sitting in on special lectures pertaining to newsworthy current events like tornado strikes and political analysis. More importantly, though, there's a section called Experts which lists a sampling of Wake Forest faculty such as sociology professor Robin Simon, author of "The Joys of Parenthood Reconsidered" and lead researcher of a study showing that adults with children are not happier than adults without children. Her link includes her fields of study and areas of expertise, current research, recent publications, a brief bio, and some noteworthy quotes. Not to mention a photo for media use. In short, everything you need to help you decide if she's the right person for your interview on parenting and depression (hint, yes she is).

Aside from the lists of experts and story ideas, the media page also contains fact sheets, news archives, and this very helpful list of media relations contacts (complete with email addresses and phone numbers) who can help you get an interview with any Wake Forest staff or faculty member, or visit to cover an event on site. If you have a Wake Forest or college sports beat or are just covering a college sports scandal story, you might find the Wake Forest Athletics Media Relations page of particular interest. Here, again you find a list of contacts with email address, phone number and area of responsibility of everyone from the Media Relations Directors for each different sport to student volunteer "Gameday Assistants" who can facilitate your coverage of a campus sports event.

Approaching it from the other end of the news spectrum, if I see a story like this one from MSNBC which involves a study by a Wake Forest researcher. I can find the name of the researcher, Anthony Atala, and search for it on the Wake Forest site to come up with this page which includes everything he's ever done at Wake Forest including growing new body parts... There's also a telephone number to call to reach a media relations representative for an interview with Dr. Atala. Many universities will include the direct phone number and email of each individual professor if you prefer to use the direct route, although I recommend going through the media relations rep. if the schools website seems to be suggesting that route as Wake Forest's does.

By developing a relationship with the media relations reps, you can get prioritized access to almost anyone on the staff instead of having to start all over with each professor.

If you email for an interview request, be very clear about who you are and what you want. I always include MEDIA REQUEST in the subject line of any such email. Tell them the general topic of the interview or article, the specific person or the area of expertise to which you'd like access for an interview and don't forget to tell them when you need the interview completed. If you have a deadline you can give them that and say you'd like to have the interview completed by X time on X date so that you have time to write it up and submit it for X date deadline. I generally do not include links to my profile page or any sample articles in the initial request. If they ask, I send them sample articles written in a similar tone to the one I am planning. I don't want to send Dr. Atala a light-hearted article sample on entomaphagy when asking for an interview about regrowing kidneys from stem cells, for example. Keep it simple, professional, brief, and to the point.

Universities and colleges are excellent sources for interview candidates on an amazingly broad variety of topics. Need a legal opinion on the Casey Anthony case? Look up a law professor. Need some information about the failed clinical trial of an immortality pill? Call someone from this list of gerontology research scientists at the University of Washington's Institute on Aging. What does the latest poll mean for control of the House after the 2012 elections? Ask a poli-sci professor. By the way, if you ask a professor from your local university, that adds a nice localization angle for national issues if you are a local Examiner, or have a local Y! News beat.

Remember, unless you are a direct employee of a media outlet, you can not represent yourself as such. You can say that you are a freelance journalist (or writer) working on an article to be published at Yahoo! News (if you have such an assignment or a beat for that topic), but you can't say you're with or from Yahoo! News, or that you are working for Yahoo! News. If your article is for the Yahoo! Contributor Network instead of for a specific assignment you have from Yahoo! News, then say it's for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. The same applies to Examiner and most other similar outlets although you should check the specific rules for each one yourself rather than relying on my say so.

The Cutting Room Floor: I edited this from an earlier draft of the above post, but tacked it on here because it makes a useful point about the willingness of these people to participate in interviews...

Conversely, when you see, in any other publication, TV program, or other outlet, a new study which interests you as a journalist, look for the lead researcher’s name and school affiliation, then go to the school’s website to find contact information for that person or the school’s media contact. If the study gives a contact person other than the lead researcher, it is best to follow that channel rather than try to bypass the suggested contact. By contacting people involved directly in the study, discovery or invention about which you wish to write, you automatically separate your article from that of other outlets. You’ll have material that is absolutely original in the form of unique quotes from the news maker. You’ll be able to ask them questions that lead them down the angle you wish to pursue, and you can discover, in the course of the conversation, ideas and angles that aren’t obvious from the previously published study summary. These are often the easiest interviews to get. These researchers want their work to be noticed. They want the media to publicize what they have done, and their institution wants the same thing. You will find willing partners in the media contacts at universities. If you go through them, you have the opportunity to develop on-going relationships that can facilitate contacts not just with this one interview subject, but with the entire staff of that college or university.

Typical interview preparation

When I was younger, I recall watching hurricane expert Dr. William Gray explain the dynamics of tropical cyclones on television, The Weather Channel, I think. Recently, Y!CN asked if I would interview him about this year's hurricane season forecast for publication on Yahoo! News. In this case, they named the individual they wanted interviewed, but did not have any contact information or ongoing communication with him. It would be left to me to establish that contact and get him to agree to the interview.

As usual, the first thing I did was start researching. I found that he typically issues four forecasts or updates each year. His next update was due in about ten days. If I did the interview right away, the information could become obsolete very quickly. I explained the situation to the folks at Y!CN who gave me the assignment. They agreed that it would be better to wait and get the updated info. I had just completed three Yahoo! News assignments about hurricanes, so I had gained some basic knowledge about The Formation and Behavior of Hurricanes, Hurricane Naming Conventions, and Hurricane Category Ratings. Perhaps that helped the Y!CN team select me for this interview.

Meanwhile, I contacted Dr. Gray and asked whether he would consent to an interview based on his planned June 1st hurricane forecast update. He said that he would be discuss it, just shoot him a message on the morning of June 1st. I also did some more research in the interim.

Dr. Gray, it seems is well known for his views that global warming is a largely natural event with little influence from human activities. He is quite vocal on the topic. He and his hurricane forescasting colleague Dr. Phil Klotzbach have also just adopted a new forecasting method (used in conjunction with other methods). I checked out hurricane season forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, since I had recently seen a Facebook post on the upcoming hurricane season by NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco. I also read through 44 pages of Dr. Gray's last hurricane forecast to familiarize myself with the terminology, format and content of his reports. I made a little cheat sheet with annual averages hurricane stats, NOAA's predictions, Dr. Gray's last forecast, and left room for his new forecast numbers. I also wrote out a draft of the interview questions I intended to ask, based on all that I had learned.

When his report was released on the morning of June first, this advance preparation let me skip to the important parts of the report and understand it so that I could engage in a good discussion with Dr. Gray. I updated my interview questions and called Dr. Gray at the phone number he had provided to me the prior week. I was able to conduct the interview within about an hour of the public release of his updated 2011 hurricane forecast, not coincidentally released ont he first day of the 2011 hurricane season.

In the end, the Y!CN News team thought the article, at over 2500 words was too long. They suggested chopping it into two articles and offered a second assignment for the sub-topic of long-range hurricane activity cycles with a separate generous upfront payment. Furthermore, a tangential topic covered in the interview will likely turn into a beat article on environmental issues, since it was omitted from the other two articles.

The main interview about the 2011 hurricane forecast is here.
The follow-up article about long-term hurricane activity cycles is here.

Opportunity knocks

Well, today I was approached by one of the editors at Yahoo! Contributor Network and asked if I had interest in a project that may end up on the front page of Yahoo.com. Of course, I am. The assignments, however, require me to locate and interview certain people whom it may be hard to reach. The good news is that they have given me four assignments on the same topic for four separate interviews. I guess that means that all four have the potential to make the front page if I can manage to get in touch with the right interviewees.

For those not familiar with Y!CN, writers receive part of their compensation based on the number of page views that an article gets. High profile placement, such as the front page of Yahoo.com, can translate into many, many page views and many, many dollars. I know of two Y!CN writers who had featured articles earn several thousand dollars in a few days, for example. There may be others of whom I am unaware.

Generally, front page placement is kind of hit or miss. If the folks at Yahoo! see an article which catches their eye, they may feature it. Anyway, I consider this assignment a good opportunity to earn some good money while gaining some good exposure for my work. Additionally, coming through with good interviews on this type of request certainly doesn't hurt my future opportunities for similar assignments in the future.

Now, I just have to figure out who I can get for these interviews that will make them front page worthy. My first thought is to visit an area museum and have a chat with the museum director, both as a potential candidate and to network additional contacts in the field in question, but I need to think about it overnight and work out a plan of attack.

An eyewitness to Japan's big earthquake

One of the houses washed out to sea by the tsunami that followed the

March 11, 2011 earthquake off the coast of Japan

Public domain photo by Airman 1st Class Katrina R. Menchaca

Right after the big 8.9 magnitude earthquake that occurred in Japan on March 11, 2011, I was contacted by the news department at the Yahoo! Contributor Network. They told me that they had contact information for someone living in Japan at the time of the earthquake and that he might be amenable to an interview. I was immediately interested for the obvious reason, but also because my son has a keen interest in Japanese history and culture and plans to spend some time studying there while in college.

I can't imagine how worried and upset his mother and I would have been if he were there already when the earthquake struck. So I wanted to explore the ability to communicate back to the United States in the immediate aftermath, personal safety issues, official warning systems, and a number of issues that may directly impact my own son and any others studying abroad in Japan either currently or in the future.

Using the information provided by Y!CN, I contacted the subject through email and set-up the interview.

You can read the full interview at this link.

Ordinarily, I locate and arrange interview prospects on my own and pitch it to the Y!CN news department through my regular Q&A interview beat. In this case, however, it was my good relationship and reputation with the news department's editorial staff that dropped the contact in my lap. Communication, networking and a good track record result in opportunities that would be otherwise unavailable. Cultivate contacts and let people know what kinds of things would be of interest to you from a writing perspective.

Imprisoned by Moammar Gadhafi

This interview was one of my favorites because I felt it had great emotional content. I arranged to interview a former Libyan national for comment on the uprising in Eastern Libya during its early days, before much real fighting took place, and, in fact, weeks before the U.S. and allies decided to use air power to defend the rebels from potential massacre. I didn't know until I got into the interview that the interviewee, Dr. Fathi Finaish had actually been imprisoned, albeit briefly, by Gadhafi as a young man in the 1970's. Furthermore, Dr. Finaish had family still living in Tripoli from whom he had not heard since the start of the uprising.

Moammar Gadhafi with military hat drawn low over

 his eyes in 1969 shortly after taking power in Libya.

Public Domain photo from the Online Museum of Syrian History

At first, during the interview, Dr. Finaish seemed a bit closed in his attitude. He responded very briefly to my questions, often with one word or a single brief sentence. Once I got some basic background information, I mixed in more open-ended questions to draw him out, but sometimes a short succinct answer can have a powerful impact. For example, I asked, "Is there any discussion or dissent allowed against policies or government edicts in Libya? The answer was short and to the point: "No. If you talk, you will pay for it, dearly." That simple sentence speaks volumes and really helped me to understand why, at this time, so many Libyan people were willing to risk their lives with few weapons and little, if any, training to try to wrest back their children's destiny from Gadhafi.

I'll also point out that although he spoke English very well, it was not Dr. Finaish's first language. Although I could not transcribe his accent, I did try to keep some of the phrasings and hesitations that might appear out of the ordinary to a native English speaker to try to capture more of the emotion and character of the interview and the interviewee.

You can read the full published interview at this link...

As an aside, this was also interesting from a writing standpoint because it is an example of the shifting vagaries of English spellings of foreign names and words. The spelling "Moammar Gadhafi" was in vogue with Yahoo! News when I wrote this interview, but it is often spelled quite differently by different news organizations, making it difficult for users of search engines trying to find information about the Libyan leader.

Respect for the interviewee

Generally, when I conduct an interview, I send a link to the finished work to the subject of the interview. Often, however, they will ask to see the work before it is published in order to "correct any mis-statements they may have made." I always acquiesce to these requests to see the content before it is published and to date, no one has had any real issues with the content. I don't always include the title. In this article, though, I did include a title, the one that is on the article now. When I submitted it for publication on Yahoo! News, my editor requested that I change the title. So, it was published with a title different than the one now show. It was accurate and truthful, but could be interpreted in a couple of different ways. One of which was somewhat controversial.

The subject of the interview, wrote me back and strongly objected to the new title which was included in the URL, as well. He objected so strongly that he said he would withdraw permission to use his comments if it were not changed. While it might not be a legally defensible threat, I like to maintain good relations with my contacts, especially when the request to change the title did not reduce the integrity of the article itself.

I contacted my editor and explained the situation. He was able to immediately change the title, and request that the article be taken down from Yahoo! as this was the only way to eliminate the disputed title from the URL. Meanwhile, the article was added to Y!CN under the new title. Once the original was purged from Yahoo!'s cache, it was resubmitted and published at Yahoo! News.

In all it took more than a day and a number of back and forth communications to get everything changed and page views on the original submission were permanently wiped from the system. I felt that changing the title was important as an act of courtesy to someone who had granted me an hour of his time. My relationship and open line of communication with the responsible editor at Y!CN was also instrumental in my ability to accomplish this change.

While the disputed title was factually accurate, would not be considered offensive, and could have been left as is, I felt that changing it was the right thing to do to ease the anxiety my interview subject had. If i had included the disputed title in the prepublication draft I send to him and he had not objected at the time, I might have made a less-strenuous attempt to make the change. If the interviewee simply had second thoughts about what they clearly said during the interview such that it changed the character of the discussion, it would also be a different case.

Think of the example of Newt Gingrich criticizing the Paul Ryan budget, for example. If he had said what he said in the interview and then asked the interviewer to omit those remarks before they were published or televised, I think it would be disingenuous of the interviewer as a journalist to edit the discussion to change its original character. It would be fine to include a note that Gingrich later said he didn't really mean what he said or that he meant to say he supports Ryan's budget, but pretending that it never happened is misleading to the reader or television audience in my opinion. In a case like that, I would have to stand my ground.

In the case of the title change I made on the above-referenced article however, there was no change to the character or content of the original interview, so there was really no reason for me to object to the request.

When we interview people and quote them directly, we have an obligation to represent their words and tone accurately, and, where possible within the limits of our own journalistic integrity, to protect them against threats, real or perceived, to their professional and personal integrity.

Israel, Iran and Middle East uprisings

The so-called Arab Spring, the public uprisings against existing governments in much of the Arab world this year will have lasting repercussions on the relationship between the U.S. and these countries, indeed, the effects will be felt throughout the world. There may be few nations that have a stronger interest in the outcomes than Israel. In it's ongoing conflict with Iran and others, it has few regional allies. Egypt, under Mubarek, was one of them.

To help sort it all out, I spoke with Ross Brann, professor of Judeo-Islamic studies at Cornell University. In addition to having studied in both Israel and Egypt, Prof. Brann is also the former chair of Cornell's Department of Near Eastern Studies. The discussion was particularly focused on the strategic relationship between countries.

To read the full article click here...

How easy are interviews to write?

Some people think that writing interview articles is easier than other types since you are relying on someone else's words and just transcribing them. I strongly disagree.

In the first place, the interviewer must identify a relevant expert, contact him and set up an interview in time to make sure the topic is still newsworthy or timely. Some of the experts are getting calls from many media sources for interviews and they often have work schedules that permit only a small window of available time.

Secondly, preparation for an interview is at least equal to the research for any article. The interviewer must research the topic of the interview, the expert's previous statements and writings pertaining to the interview topic, and research some opposing views and factual information about the topic in order to have an intelligent discussion with the interviewee.

Questions should be prepared in advance, but the interviewer should be willing and even eager to go off the beaten path if the person being interviewed mentions or hints at something that seems interesting.

You are more likley to get in-depth and candid dialogue from the interviewee if you are engaged in a real conversation rather than running through a list of predetermined questions. The more in-depth your advanced research is, the better-equipped you will be to convey a genuine interest in the topic, recognize intriguing opportunities as they develop within the interview, and draw the interviewee out if she doesn't initially provide enough detail.

Finally, once you have the interview, the editing process can be quite time-consuming as well. I'll often talk with a subject for 30-45 minutes. During that time, there are pages and pages of directly transcribed notes. To make that ready for publication, I need to very carefully edit each response in such a way as to accurately capture the tone,context, and main content of the reply. It is important to represent the interviewee and their statements accurately while trimming them down to the bare essentials.

Trimming too much, however, can lead to the danger of stripping out the emotional content of the interview. The article should give the reader all the passion the interviewee feels about the topic and a glimpse of their personality without getting sidetracked.

All in all, I spend far more time on interview articles than I do on anything else I write of similar length. They also tend to be the articles in which I learn the most and I hope that learning passes through to the reader as well.

The Death of Osama Bin Laden

Photo by Abdul Rahman bin Laden (son of Osama bin Laden) released to Hamid Mir

Creative Commons Attribution S.A. 3.0

OK, Osama bin Laden is dead, but what does that mean for America's War on Terror? Does it weaken Al Qaida? What are the overall strategic implications of bin Laden's death? I wanted to know the answers to these questions so I spoke with a renowned expert on terrorists and terrorism, Dr. Adam Lankford, who is also an assistant professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Alabama. Dr. Lankford is the author of Human Killing Machines: Systematic Indoctrination in Iran, Nazi Germany, Al Qaeda, and Abu Ghraib, a book which examines the recruitment and psychology of suicide terrorists.

You can find my full interview about the strategic implications of bin Laden's death by clicking here...