An interview on interviewing

Be flexible during interviews and do research, recommended Emery Eisner, a reporter and producer with Elon New Network (ENN).  

Journalists have to balance the needs of the particular story and what kind of information they are seeking, Eisner said. Every interview is different and an interviewer needs to have a balance of open ended questions and ones that are meant to corner the source, depending on the needs of that specific story. 

She also stressed the importance of doing research before an interview. Informed questions will lead to much better answers, Eisner said. And, she added, people tend to get annoyed when journalists ask a question that they could have answered themselves with prior research.

Eisner’s first interviewing experience as a student reporter was when she was a first year student and had just started working with ENN. She interviewed Elon School of Communications lecturer Sharon Eisner (no relation) for a story about faculty union efforts. Now a junior, it has been nearly two years since then, and Eisner has gained more knowledge that has made her a better interviewer. 

For example, also during her freshman year, Eisner interviewed journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Hedrick Smith. Afterwards, the former New York Times correspondent and Pentagon Paper veteran pulled her aside and gave her advice.

Additionally, Eisner said she learned a lot when she traveled to Des Moines, Iowa with Elon University in January, right before the Iowa Caucuses. There, she did an 11-minute interview with republican candidate Bill Weld and was able to question several democratic candidates. Her biggest takeaway from Iowa, Eisner said, was to be more aggressive.