Interview Context

Interviews are a vital part of a journalists' work, they enable added information and knowledge from either an expert or someone with inside information. Interview context is the way the information gathered from an interview is published. Different websites, programmes and magazines will ask and publish different responses based on the intellectual standing of the target audience. Interviews are published in a range of ways. Some being published online or in print. Others are broadcast from TV programs or Radio Stations.

Television:

Interviews broadcast on television are featured on the news, chat shows and documentaries. Interviews in news programs, such as BBC News, are hard news and investigative as they are often with experts in fields such as politics and are trying to get new information on a subject. Occasionally, BBC Breakfast will interview musicians to promote a new album and/or tour, making it promotional and entertainment news. Chat shows, like The Graham Norton Show, are predominately promotional and entertainment based. As the guests are celebrities, they are interviewed on their latest film, tour, album etc. as well as their personal lives. The style in a documentary can vary depending on the topic. For example, Stacey Dooley Investigates: The Billion Pound Party is about Northern Irish political party and their deal with Theresa May. As it's something that effects everyone, it becomes hard news. On the other hand, The Story Of The Undertones, a documentary on punk band, The Undertones, would be entertainment as it's about the rise of a successful band in the late 70s. However, all documentaries are also classed as investigative as the interviewer is trying to get information on a subject in more detail, that won't be known by the audience beforehand. programs that focus on the light-hearted and entertainment news, use open questions to get longer, more detailed responses. They are also used in investigative interviews as the interviewer is trying to extract more information. With hard news, they ask more closed questions as they want answers that are direct and straight to the point. They use leading questions because they want to get a specific quote or data from the interviewee.

Radio:

On radio stations, interviews tend to be centred around music, interviewing musicians about their latest album, tour or single and how it's doing it the charts. However, some stations have talk shows that are centred around celebrity gossip, interviewing stars about their personal lives and their latest work, be it book, film or tour. Both would be classed as entertainment and promotional as said person is being interviewed in order to gain more publicity on what they're trying to promote or to provide gossip for fans. Stations still have to report on current news stories so occasionally, they interview someone for a hard news story so the audience are up to date with current affairs. They ask more closed questions as they want answers that are direct and straight to the point as they have less time than they do on television. They use leading questions because they want to get a specific quote or data from the interviewee. The entertainment and promotional interviews have less leading questions and more open questions because they want as much detail possible on the gossip, especially if it's shocking.

Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Marconie interview Brix Smith and Steve Hanley on The Fall

Print:

Interviews published in printed form are found in newspapers, magazines and periodicals (a magazine or newspaper published at set intervals, which can range from monthly to annually). Broadsheet newspapers, such as The Guardian, tend to publish hard news as their target audience are intellectuals with high-paying jobs who are interested in stories that affect the country, for example, politics and the economy. Tabloids, such as The Sun, are more likely to publish entertainment or light-hearted news as their target audience are more concerned about celebrity gossip. Magazines and periodicals print articles based on a specific topic. For example, The NME will publish stories and interviews based on music news and gossip as their audience are music fans, therefore making their content entertainment and promotional. On the other hand, monthly magazine, The Scientist, is targeted at intellectuals in the field of science and publishes articles on scientific discoveries and research; therefore, making it investigative. Other magazines are purely light-hearted, audience-told stories that are often targeted at women. Interviewers for, usually broadsheet, newspapers and magazines targeted at the sophisticated often ask leading questions so they can get specific quotes and figures from the interviewee. They also tend to ask closed questions so the interviewee's response is short and straight to the point, therefore making it easier to put into a short article. In magazines and tabloids that focus on light-hearted and entertainment news, they ask less leading questions and more open questions allowing the interviewee, who would usually be a celebrity, to give a more detailed, interesting answer, keeping the readers engaged.

Online:

Interviews published online tend to be on the online version of a magazine or newspaper, therefore they would follow the same styles and context as mentioned above. Other website containing interviews will be based on a specific topic. For example, The Reading and Leeds festival YouTube channel will publish interviews based on music news and gossip from the bands performing as their audience are music fans, who are most likely attending the festival, therefore making their content entertainment and promotional. They ask less leading questions and more open questions allowing the interviewee to give a more detailed, interesting answer, keeping the viewers interested and convincing them to buy the new album or see them on tour.

Jim Reid is interviewed about new The Jesus and Mary Chain album

Target Audience:

GQ Magazine and The Chicago Tribune could interview the cast of Detroit and the articles could be completely different. GQ Magazine will publish an interview with much shorter, simple responses and tend to ask more personal questions to starring actors, rather than technical ones about the film. On the other hand, The Chicago Tribune, an American equivalent to a paper like The Guardian, has longer, more complex responses that discuss the importance of the film in today's society and tackle harder-hitting questions, not mentioning the actor's personal lives at all. This is done because the target audience of GQ Magazine are less sophisticated and would be more inclined to read an interview about celebrity gossip than the technicalities of the film. Whereas the target audience of The Chicago Tribune are more sophisticated and would be interested in the links to topical affairs and the wider creation of the film, other than the actors. As you can see, both interviews take place with actor, John Boyega, and discuss the film, Detroit, but both are completely different. This is because the target audience of the two publishers are polar opposites and the best way to make it a successful article is to cater to the reader's wants and needs from the interview.

Sources:

The Chicago Tribune interview

GQ Magazine interview

Another example would be the interviews in the run up to the release of 'IT'. An interview with the cast, in this case, all of them being children, is very different to an interview with the director. The first interview, conducted with the children, is on Rotten Tomatoes, a site that specialises in reviewing films. During the interview, the children are asked questions about themselves and take part in a would you rather game. It is conducted in an informal manner and doesn't discuss the technical side of filming 'It'. However, the second interview takes place with the director, Andy Muschietti, and is published in The Independent. This interview differs from the previous one as it takes about the inspiration for recreating this beloved story in the manner and style that he did. He gives longer, more complex responses, going into detail about the making of the film. Again, this is because the two interviews have different target audiences. The people watching the Rotten Tomatoes interview are more interested in the cast and want more fun, less sophisticated answers, whereas the people reading The Independent interview are going to be more interested in the making of the film as it's an interview with the director, therefore they are expecting more technical, complex answers. As it's being published in The Independent, the general readers tend to be more sophisticated, thus expecting longer responses in an interview. Each publisher knew what kind of questions and answers would get their interview the most success and they played on this.

Sources:

Rotten Tomatoes interview

The Independent interview

As a journalist, it's important to understand interview context because you need to know what will get you the best response from your audiences. If you write for a magazine where the target audience prefer to know about the stars and celebrity gossip, they won't be interested in reading a complex, technical interview with the director of a film. On the other hand, if you wrote for a magazine that specialised in horror films, the target audience would want to read about the way tension was produced on film with effects and filming techniques, they wouldn't be interested in the personal lives of the actors in the film. It's important that you know your target audience in order to conduct a successful interview.