The National Lesbian Gay Journalists Association ( NLGJA ) held its national convention and LGBT Media Summit "Breaking Barriers" at Chicago's Palmer House Hilton Aug. 21-24.
Breaking down the barriers in journalism between journalist and subject, "The Art of The Interview: How to Be a Better Interviewer and How to Land the Big Get" was held Aug. 23. The speakers were CBS 2 Chicago Reporter Brad Edwards and A. Chris Gajilan, Oprah Prime and OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network producer and previous CNN senior producer. Northwestern University Assistant Professor Larry Stuelpnagel served as panel moderator.
"I think the most important part of journalism is embodying important stories and what better or more important way to do that than finding the subjects that fit very important issues," said Edwards. "I think there's nothing more important in journalism than good content and good content always comes from great interviews, important interviews, evocative interviews with people who tell their stories."
The session set up the platform for some of the best in the business to share the secrets and tips for a successful interview. The lesson was how to avoid asking a question to get a rehearsed answer riddled with jargon, in order to get a response of poetry and emotion. The advice from the panel was how to get interviews with the subjects, whether they are local residents or celebrities, and after landing the interview getting the person to open up in order to form a story in any media.
"The nice thing about people who came here and the conversation was that it also rekindled the spirit of why I want to go out and do this. It also reinforced some of the things I believe in," said Edwards. "One thing I found interesting about what we talked about was how to get people to deviate from their talking points."
Edwards and Gajilan come from two different areas of media but they have similarities in actually conducting the interview. Both journalists said interviewing does not consist of just the question and answer. The first thing they detailed is to care about the subject.
"I think the most important thing if you want to do a good interview is care," said Edwards. "You need to have empathy in your eyes and you need be able to relate instantly and intimately with a subject. Sometimes I think the best thing I've learned about doing a good interview is sometimes to stop talking. Ask the question and then let that person take you where the interview needs to go, especially when talking about something emotional or thought provoking. Sometimes we get so nervous or deadline-worried, time-constrained we cut it off, we interrupt, we're talking over each other. Let them tell their story and it's there. First and foremost you need to care and then you need to be there."
"I'm a gay male and I think although a lot of that frames who I am and it clearly affects me and clearly affected my childhood and part of my paradigm is I love—I always tell people—I love dogs and underdogs ['in an Atticus Finch-ian regard']," said Edwards. "It's part of what I bring to the interview. I don't ever want it to get in the way or skew anything politically. I'm open about who I am and I own it, I love it, I'm proud of who I am and I'm proud I went through the struggles that a lot of LGBT youth go through. I use that to tell good stories for other people."
Edwards said a lot of times similar stories are reported, but they are never the same.
"The world, when you talk about To Kill a Mockingbird, it's full of Tom Robinsons—people that are victimized. I think having the viewpoint I have and other people here have through being a minority—I think it's powerful. We have to watch that line between journalism and advocacy. It's a very delicate dance and I think I've danced it pretty well. I look at it as an advantage."
For more information, visit: www.nlgja.org/ .
