Interviewing easier with grunts, pauses

By Alyson Weiss

Holly Schmidt, a cherub from Saint Charles, Mo., spoke on the phone with two principals from her high school for her trend story. She interviewed them with confidence because of a lesson she remembered from instructor John Kupetz’s basic interviewing techniques lecture.

“It made interviewing easier,” Schmidt said. “I used little words, proper grunting, to let them know I was listening, encouraging them to talk.”

Schmidt and 87 cherubs attended the lecture in which Kupetz addressed problems cherubs encountered during the Fourth of July parade article to prepare cherubs for the trend story.

“There’s nothing more flattering and more pleasant than being listened to,” Kupetz said during the lecture. “This is journalism. It’s not about you anymore.”

Kupetz taught the cherubs everything from tape recorder etiquette to the types of questions students should ask. Gabe Debenedetti, a cherub from Princeton, N.J., used Kupetz’s tip about silence when he was writing his trend story about boarding schools.

“A lot of them were very hesitant to give out information, so when I would ask some of the tougher questions, they would often have one-word answers,” Debenedetti said. “Oftentimes, the best responses I got was simply when I let the line fall silent, and they would elaborate, just because they feel uncomfortable. I would not have come up with that if it hadn’t been for John’s class.”

Ivana Dukanovic, a cherub from Los Altos, Calif., forgot Kupetz’s lessons during the trend story. She sent an e-mail asking James Parker, a life coach, for an interview, but did not attach her questions. He responded too late.

“If I had listened to Kupetz, he might have gotten back to me before the deadline,” Dukanovic said.

Still, Kupetz’s lectures keep cherubs attentive by mixing in humor and information, Dukanovic said.

“It was a good workshop,” Dukanovic said. “Everything Kupetz says is insightful, and he mixes in teaching us what we need to know with his laugh.”

Kupetz models his lecture each year around problems students in his group tell him they are having. Interviewing is the most important and hardest part of journalism, Kupetz said.

“Once you can talk to people, you can do this job,” Kupetz said. “All of journalism kind of opens up. As a reporter, you not only have a right but you have a responsibility to get information because what you are doing is in the public interest, and that should keep you fearless.”