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08.04.05
Email Interviews
 By
Pamela 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.
About the Author:
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. |
