The Art of Elite Journalist’s Interviewing

By Mike Wallace and Beth Knobel [USA]

The Art of Elite Journalist’s Interviewing

By Mike Wallace and Beth Knobel [USA]

Good journalists are capable of asking simple questions which can result in long answers.

Scott Pelley, a journalist for the CBS News Magazine “60 Minutes” holds that a good question should not be more than six words. “Otherwise when you talked for thirty seconds, your interviewee would follow your step,” he added, “which is a common mistake.”

Another technique used often in interviewing is “What do you think of…?” It works for Mike Wallace every time,including the interview with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, which vexed British and Americans. It was dif ficult to interview Thatcher who had been well polished in all kinds of domestic political debates. Therefore, Mike thought about how to break her defense and reveal her true thoughts about Israeli Prime Minister.

“I asked her, ‘What do you think of Menachem Begin?’

At the first second, she said something like, ‘Whoa, what should I say?’ It’s obvious that Menachem Begin was a nerve-racking trouble for her.” Mike said, “Then I let her pause. I was very satis fied even though there was only one second.”

“If you are a good journalist, you know how to make your interviewee less defensive, because you know so much about him and the courtesy is less desirable here.” Mike explained.

In an interview with Luciano Pavarotti, the famous Italian opera tenor in 1993, Mike pierced Pavarotti’s protective armor with his sharpness. To achieve this, Mike brought out all the criticisms against Pavarotti.

“They said his voice was becoming weak. He was too fat. He was lazy. His voice was cracked and he was booed.”Mike recalled, “then I asked, ‘What are you afraid of?’ ‘Is the twilight of your career coming?’ He said, ‘Of course, they are right.’ Pavarotti talked about his fear and downward side. Under Mike’s pressure, he surrendered and revealed his weak side, producing an extraordinary effect.

There were also times when the interviewee tried to intimidate the interviewer. Mike remembered that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran tried to deter him by holding off in an interview.

“We were in a suite in Tehran and waited for a long time.We got a little angry about being left there.” Mike recalled.Mike, Robert Anderson, the producer and the whole team waited and waited, but there was no sign that Ahmadinejad would like to take the interview.

“We suspected that the whole room was wiretapped by Tehran authority. So I remembered that I started to talk to the chandelier instinctively.” Mike continued.

Talking to the chandelier is an old trick started in the cold war, which refers to talking to the wall when you found you were tapped so as to communicate with the local government. “Our visa will expire after three or four days. So we’d better order ticket flying back to New York.”It worked. “Half an hour later, it came that he would like to accept our interview.” Mike explained.

(From Heat and Light, China Renmin University Press.Translation: Li Li)

優秀的記者總以能得到長答案的方式提問。《60分鐘》節目組的斯科特·佩利認為，一個好的問題不應該多于六個英語單詞。“不然你啰啰唆唆講了三十秒，你的受訪者就會跟著一路思考。”他補充說，“這是人們常犯的一個錯誤。”

另一個提問技巧是“關于……你怎么看？”這個方法邁克屢試不爽，包括那次采訪英國首相撒切爾夫人。

1982年，正值以色列入侵黎巴嫩，英國人和美國人都對以色列相當惱火。采訪撒切爾很難，她已被英國的各種政治辯論打磨得異常精細。因此，邁克思考著以何種方法打破她的防守，能夠讓她表露出對以色列首相的真實看法。

“我問她：‘你對梅納赫姆·貝京是怎么看的？’最開始的一秒，她說了句諸如‘哇，這個問題我該怎么回答呢？’之類的話。因為很顯然，那一刻，梅納赫姆·貝京對她來說，實在是個令人頭痛的大麻煩。”邁克說，“我讓她停頓了下來。雖然只有一秒，但我已經非常滿意了。”

“如果你是個優秀的采訪者，你知道怎樣讓你提問的對象變得脆弱，因為你對他以及整個狀況太了解，以至于瓦解了所有禮節。”邁克解釋道。

在1993年對意大利歌劇明星魯契亞諾·帕瓦羅蒂的一次采訪中，邁克用他的犀利刺破了帕瓦羅蒂的保護殼。為了達到這個目的，邁克提到所有圍繞帕瓦羅蒂的批評。

“他們說他的聲音越來越差了，他太胖了，他很懶，他的嗓子破了，他被人喝倒彩。”邁克回憶道，“然后我問：‘你在害怕什么？’‘是不是你職業生涯的終結就要來了？’他說：‘當然，他們是對的。’”帕瓦羅蒂談了他的恐懼和走下坡路的一面，在邁克的壓力之下投降了，顯露出他脆弱的一面，也制造了一場令人難忘的報道。

還有些時候，受訪者試圖威嚇采訪者。邁克記得，伊朗總統艾哈邁迪·內賈德在一次采訪中，試圖用拖延時間的方式威懾他。

“我們在德黑蘭的一間酒店套房里，已經等了很長時間，我們對自己被擱在這里有些生氣。”邁克回憶道。邁克、制片人羅伯特·安德森以及整個攝制團隊等了又等，艾哈邁迪·內賈德仍然沒有絲毫開始接受訪問的跡象。

“我們猜想整間房間應該被德黑蘭當局竊聽了，所以我記得我本能地開始‘對著大吊燈說話’。”邁克繼續說。

“對著大吊燈說話”是始于冷戰時代的舊把戲，指的是當你確定自己的房間被竊聽后開始對著墻說話，以這樣的方式和當地政府交流。“我們的簽證三四天后就要到期了，所以，我想我們最好訂好回紐約的飛機票。”這一招奏效了。“半個小時后，消息傳來，他愿意接受我們的采訪。”邁克解釋道。

（摘自《光與熱》中國人民大學出版社）

頂尖記者采訪技巧

文| 邁克·華萊士 貝絲·諾伯爾[美]