Type of Credit: Elective
Credit(s)
Number of Students
Students will gain a solid, fundamental understanding of people available for news
interviews, means of reaching them and questions to ask in a variety of settings, from
big groups to exclusive chats with CEOs. Lessons are tailored for the international
news media environment.
能力項目說明
Week 1 Intro
Introduction to the interview’s role in journalism
Week 2 Types of interviews
Solicited, unsolicited, voice-to-voice, face-to-face, written, via third parties; how to set up interviews
Week3 Interviews in group settings
Multiple reporters; multiple sources
Week 4 Interviewees I
Interviews with consumers, voters, the poor, the sick and victims (fraud, disaster, crime)
Week 5 Interviewees II
Interviews with people who have little previous media exposure
Week 6 Interviewees III
Interviews with people who are hired to work with the media
Week 7 Interviewees IV
Interviews with CEOs, heads of state, government ministers and the super-famous
Week 8 Experts
Effective ways to find and talk with expert sources
Mid-term project
Week 9 Ethics
How close should journalists get to their sources? Do they pre-share article drafts? What’s a conflict of interest?
Week 10 Cross-Cultural Interviews
When journalist and source come from different
racial or cultural backgrounds
Week 11 Making People Talk Straight
Interviewees who say too little, say too much or tell lies
Week 12 Sensitive questions
What to ask, when to ask, how to ask, when to refrain
Week 13 Mock interviews
Practice in class or in the field; train for note-taking
Week 14 News colleagues
Coordination with photographers, videographers
Week 15 The law
Legal issues associated with news interviews
Week 16 Combative sources
What to do before and after story publication
Week 17 Blurring of sources and journalists
Citizen journalism, think tanks and
private companies with their own “news” websites
Week 18 Wrap up
Possible guest speakers
Final project
Each student will draw on the lessons of this class to submit a 750-word news story with content based on at least three in-depth interviews.
Each student will draw on the lessons of this class to submit an in-depth question and answer file, based an in-person and recorded interview, with someone located in Taiwan and close to an event in the 2021 news.
Come to class, answer questions from the instructor or any guest speakers, add comments and insights to class discussions, participate in role-play interviews
There is no set textbook for this subject. The course will rely on real and mock interviews, previously published and broadcast news content and English-language books available in the NCCU main library.