Techniques of Interviewing:
The following basic guidelines could prove helpful in almost all interview
situations:
a. Introduce yourself clearly and accurately.
b. Be sure to get the person’s name and title.
c. Be friendly, sympathetic and courteous.
d. Begin the interview with light and interesting question.
e. Avoid yes-no questions.
f. Ask open questions.
g. Don’t be afraid to deviate from the list of prepared questions if you open a new and interesting line of discussion.
h. Avoid ambiguous questions.
i. Do not bury your head in your notes. •
j. 10 Also use a tape recorder while taking notes.
k. ! I Keep the interviewee going smoothly but don’t allow him/her to take total control of the situation or to misguide you.
l. Never agree to ask only set questions.
m. Make sure you understand what the interviews have said.
n. Don’t stop probing until complicated points are explained to your satisfaction.
EDITORIAL PAGE
If the editorials have, in recent years, suffered a decline the editorial page, as a whole, has gained in popularity. This is largely owing to the attempt made by ingenious make-up men to draw the reader’s attention to the editorial page through arrangement of interesting features and typographical display. Now-a-day reader has no time to read the entire newspaper. Therefore if his attention is to be captured and held by the editorial page, that page must be unusually attractive physically.
IMPORTANCE OF EDITORIAL PAGE
Editorial page has occupied a place of supreme importance in the newspaper. Editorials are not used for personal ends. They are not merely the mouthpieces of the newspapers management. On the other hand they are positive and constructive opinions regarding important national and international issues. They give suggestions and can mould the opinion of the readers through persuasive writings.
The editorials enable a newspaper to reflect current opinions on public issues and other contents of the editorial page such as columns, cartoons, and letters to the editor present alternative opinion to the reader. The editorial page is valuable to both the newspaper and to the readers. It gives the newspaper a chance to present its policies and beliefs without colouring the regular news stories with biased statements.
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Broadly speaking, editorial page is vital for a newspaper and the community. Editorial and other contents of the editorial page influence decision making and actuate the readers to react positively or negatively. Surveys show that editorial pages do not have the proportionately high readership enjoyed by the comic or sports pages and other sensational reports but they do command the attention of an
important part of the population: those who make IMPACT
The role of the editorial in influencing public opinion has been studied by the media experts. As more is learned about how the public reacts to editorialists, columnists and other writers on the editorial page are changing their approach. It used to be that editors and other writers thought their writings cause significant change. That is not true today. Though, this page influences the decision makers of the society, research studies indicate that compared to the news, sports and feature pages, editorial pages have relatively low readership.
While editorials don’t exert immediate impact on a majority of the public, they are influential on what has been termed “agenda setting,” establishing for the public the importance of topics. Agenda-setting helps give the public a syllabus, a list of things to think about. The more a subject is brought before the public, the more it begins to take on meaning and importance.
Ethics of editorial writers include not only presenting the facts accurately, but refraining from propaganda. The opinion presented should be the best judgment you as a writer can make from a thorough investigation. To produce a piece without adequate information is to jeopardize the credibility of the medium’s news as well.
