EMAIL INTERVIEWS by Pam White
Reporters and writers know the value of face-to-face interviews.
Follow-up questions are easy in real time allowing writers to chase
a new line of questioning with little effort or loss of spontaneity.
Watching an interviewee's movements, nervous twitches or smiles
provides reporters with physical indicators of the truth or lie in
an answer. Being on the scene allows writers to create descriptions
of the individual and background details, adding depth and richness
to the final article.
Where does that leave interviewing via email? While it may not be
the same as a face-to-face or even a phone interview, it can meet
the needs of writers who write for a global marketplace on a low
budget.
True, an email interview leaves the interviewer with less details: no description of places or discussion of scents, facial expressions, hesitations or eagerness during the interview, but email interviews
have certain advantages.
Email makes it easy for writers to connect with subjects in another
time zone. Instead of the expense of traveling to interview a chef,
or the difficulty of executing a 2 a.m. phone call, writers can
email questions during regular working hours. The same goes for the
chef to be interviewed. She can respond when she has time, and often
in greater detail.
Interviewing by email allows subjects that are shy or ineloquent to
shine during an interview. With time to contemplate what they want
to say, and the opportunity to say it through email without
pressure, encourages more reserved people to submit to an interview.
In addition, shy writers can add assignments to their work schedule
knowing they will be comfortable doing email interviews.
Having trouble finding witnesses to an event, participants in a
diet, or a broad spectrum of opinions for a particular article? Post
on message boards or send emails to an address list asking
questions. Email interviews are great for gathering a variety of
quotes on short notice. Calling 50 people on the phone looking for
quotes doesn't compare with the ease of sending out a mass email.
Email is great for contacting public relations departments, setting
up phone or in-person interviews with the person needed for an
article, or gathering background information and publicity photos of
dishes, chefs or products. They are also good for checking quotes
and statistics; emailing subjects with a list of facts that need to
be confirmed gives the writer a record of the confirmation.
Some of the benefits also create difficulties. While someone for whom English is a second language may appreciate being able to take the
time to write out exactly what they want to say, allowing some
interview subjects time to offered a canned answer to a hard-hitting
question can lower the impact of an interview.
Follow-up questions are difficult to do with email too, but not
impossible. Expect the need for several emails between writer and
interview subject.
As a final caution: if writers want to conduct email interviews,
they should still act and write professionally. Who wants to be
interviewed by a writer that uses internet shorthand ("Thanks hun,
wOOt. U r the best!")?
Email interviews are here to stay. Their convenience allows writers
to
reach around the globe for interviewees without leaving home. As
technology develops and our dependency on it deepens, do take time
regularly to reflect that one of the reasons writers become writers
is to see the world, experience it, and share their findings with
others. Use email for interviews when appropriate or necessary, but
when the opportunity to travel afar or into town for an interview,
get up and go for it.
*******************************************
Pamela White is the publisher of Food Writing an online newsletter
for writers. She teaches the original online course on food writing.
Find out more at www.food-writing.com .
