{"id":6284,"date":"2018-03-05T21:32:24","date_gmt":"2018-03-06T05:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=6284"},"modified":"2018-03-08T16:26:30","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T00:26:30","slug":"these-arent-interviews-these-scripted-interviewers-are-just-there-to-shout-you-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=6284","title":{"rendered":"These aren\u2019t \u2018interviews.\u2019 These guys are just there to shout you down"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been interviewed plenty of times — mostly on the radio. I\u2019ve even conducted an interview, here and there.<\/p>\n

The goal of the news or entertainment interview — any LEGITIMATE interview — is to provide to the listener (or viewer, or reader) an accurate slice of such factual information as the interviewee (\u201cguest\u201d) is able to provide. In a best case, you hope he or she will also contribute a few colorful anecdotes, examples, or at least turns of phrase, which the audience may find entertaining.<\/p>\n

You want to \u201cbring out their voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some subjects are a bit nervous — it can take a little work to get them relaxed enough to answer in anything but monosyllables. And of course some go to the opposite extreme: They bloviate, they filibuster — they may need to be nudged back onto the topic at hand, first gently, then a little more firmly.<\/p>\n

All that said, however, a good interviewer will work to make the guest feel comfortable. A good interviewer is happiest when the guest does at least 80 percent of the talking. The interviewer provides just enough \u201csteering,\u201d background, and follow-up questions to prevent a descent into an endless drone, to make sure the guest has made him- or herself clear, to keep things \u201cperky.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure a three- or four-minute interview is really possible, unless both parties are essentially acting out a rehearsed routine. An interview of that length is a discourtesy both to the viewer or listener and to the person who\u2019s adjusted his schedule to make him or herself available. A block of time between 15 minutes and an hour usually makes the most sense.<\/p>\n

(In this Internet age, should broadcast requirements REALLY require things to be trimmed to a few minutes — which is rarely the case; they literally have all day — the answer is to air the best SEGMENT of a fuller interview, offering the viewers or listeners a Web address where they can go \u201chear the whole thing.\u201d If your \u201cguests\u201d don\u2019t have at least 15 uninterrupted minutes worth of material which would be of value to your audience, don\u2019t invite them in the first place. Hire a clown and some jugglers.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow-up questions should rarely be scripted in advance. They should arise from LISTENING TO WHAT THE GUEST IS SAYING. If he\u2019s just said all drugs should be legalized \u2013- whether the interviewer happens to agree or not \u2013- it\u2019s only sensible to say, \u201cGosh, many listeners hearing that are bound to think \u2018He wants to hand out free heroin to little kids!\u2019 Can you explain a little better what a de-criminalized market in drugs would look like? Are there any historical precedents?\u201d<\/p>\n

Or whatever. But you have to LISTEN, in order to ENGAGE.<\/p>\n

Marc Levin is a pretty good interviewer. Here in Las Vegas, the late Lou Epton had the gift. He sounded warm and friendly, never rushed, anxious, or hostile, and when we were done he nearly always thanked me for \u201cmaking his job easy\u201d by carrying the ball most of the way down the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cSHUT UP! I HAVE TO GET THROUGH THIS LIST!\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t watch much TV, these days. Having just caught some \u201cprofessional interviewers\u201d on \u201cbig-time TV news shows\u201d interviewing spokesmen for the Trump administration on such matters as the proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum, I\u2019m reminded why.<\/p>\n

Listen to Chris Wallace ( http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/transcript\/2018\/03\/04\/white-house-trade-adviser-makes-case-for-tariffs.html<\/a> ), Wolf Blitzer, George Stephanopoulos -\u2013 virtually anyone amongst the Herd Media -\u2013 interviewing on such a topic, which is at least slightly technical, which requires a LITTLE background research.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t really matter whether the foil, the straight man, is trade representative Peter Navarro, or Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, or whoever.<\/p>\n

The first thing you\u2019ll notice is that the interviewer seems to have a written, scripted list of at least half a dozen questions, and that the main emphasis seems to be getting through that entire list -\u2013 proving to the boss that they all got asked -\u2013 rather than actually listening to the answers, and then engaging in any back-and-forth \u201cdiscussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, trying to get through half a dozen questions in 10 minutes or less -\u2013 when the questions are actually more like the lengthy opening statements of a debater seeking to undercut or refute what he knows his \u201copponent\u201d is about to say -\u2013 means the \u201cquestioner\u201d ends up talking (eventually shouting) over his \u201copponent\u2019s\u201d answer, in order to shut him up so the \u201cinterviewer\u201d can get on to reading his next lengthy \u201cquestion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cquestioner\u201d ends up spending at least half the allotted time listening to the sound of his own (increasingly hysterical) voice -\u2013 a sure sign of trouble. <\/p>\n

The next thing you\u2019ll notice is that the \u201cinterviewers\u201d don\u2019t seem to have done their background research.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump has been calling for a 25 percent tariff on Chinese goods -\u2013 to eliminate the trade imbalance which has gutted our industrial base -\u2013 for at least seven years. ( https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?299259-1\/donald-trump-speech-las-vegas<\/a> ) — or, for the “sound byte” version — ( https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wN7KHWdyrbI<\/a> .) He campaigned on this issue. Along with immigration enforcement, he WON ELECTION on this issue. His staff spent a year examining all the options and concluding any tariffs must be \u201cglobal\u201d to avoid sneaky trans-shipment \u201cwork-arounds.\u201d He and his men explained all this to the Europeans in Davos almost two months ago.<\/p>\n

These \u201cTV commentators\u201d have had plenty of time to absorb and process all that background. Why do they act as though everyone has just been caught off guard by some bizarre overnight White House tariff whim?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

WHERE DOES THE \u2018CANADIAN\u2019 STEEL COME FROM? <\/strong><\/p>\n

And the third thing you\u2019ll notice is that all the \u201cinterviewers\u201d seem to be working from the same list of questions. Really. Can that be a coincidence? One after another they insist that we get very little of our steel from China, that our biggest source of imported steel (16 percent ) is Canada, followed by South Korea or Mexico or whoever, then asking \u201cWon\u2019t there be exemptions for our friends, our allies, like Canada? After all, for purposes of national security, isn\u2019t steel from Canada considered just as good as American steel?\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the circumstances, since the administration spokesmen are just trying to answer the questions being asked, I don\u2019t want to savage them. But I do wish, just once, one of them would wait for a second or two of silence, and then say:<\/p>\n

\u201cOK, let\u2019s go with your suggestion, Chris. Give me just two minutes, here, to give you the answer. Let\u2019s say we adopt no tariffs, while most of these countries that are doing all the squawking currently have in place all kinds of tariffs and \u2018Value Added Taxes\u2019 and other sneaky ways to make sure their consumers buy less than 25 percent as much American stuff as we buy from them. You know how much American rice gets into Japan? Zero. But let\u2019s say we let our last remaining steel and aluminum smelters — our last manufacturer of armored plate — go out of business next year, as is about to happen. Let me talk. Let me finish, Chris. You got to ask your question, now be civil, Chris. Put down your list and let me answer:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFour years from now, God forbid, Red China invades Taiwan, or South Korea. President Trump tells them to stop, or we\u2019ll go to war. We\u2019ll use all that great steel and aluminum we import from Canada and Mexico to build more warships, aircraft, tanks, rifles; we\u2019ll go to war. And what does the premier of China say? He says \u2018None of that steel and aluminum you\u2019ve been importing from Canada and Mexico is made there, you simpleton. The Canadians smelt hardly ANY steel these days. It\u2019s all Chinese steel that we\u2019ve been trans-shipping through Vancouver in order to get it into your country duty-free. And I just cut off our steel shipments to Canada last week. Cut them to zero.<\/p>\n

( See . . . https:\/\/theconservativetreehouse.com\/2018\/03\/02\/unhappy-canada-vows-retaliation-for-steel-tariffs-nafta-steel-tariffs-and-an-introduction-to-liu-zhongtian\/<\/a> . Or check any list of the world’s top steel PRODUCERS: You’ll find China, Japan, America (still), Germany, Russia — but neither Canada or Mexico in even the top dozen.)<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018There IS no Canadian steel, you fool, and all your American steel mills have shut down, they\u2019re rusting, pigeons roost in them. You can\u2019t make a single warship. To make one tank, you\u2019ll have to melt down a dozen old Toyotas. And who\u2019s going to man the blast furnaces to do even THAT? A bunch of Pancake House waitresses and convenience store clerks?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018We just sank four of your aircraft carriers, using missile technology Mr. and Mrs. Clinton sold us. Shut up and go home, old man. We\u2019ll call you when we need some new 3-D movies.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what the Chinese are going to say. And you want an exemption for Canada, Chris? It\u2019s OK for our last steel mills and aluminum smelters to be put out of business by cheap Chinese steel imports next year, as long as that Chinese steel and aluminum is all shipped here through Canada or Mexico? Are you really that stupid, Chris . . . or are you just pretending?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been interviewed plenty of times — mostly on the radio. I\u2019ve even conducted an interview, here and there. The goal of the news or entertainment interview — any LEGITIMATE interview — is to provide to the listener (or viewer, or reader) an accurate slice of such factual information as the interviewee (\u201cguest\u201d) is able […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[89,12,18,22,84,90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2018-election","category-common-defense","category-economics","category-media","category-politics","category-the-deep-state"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pWqFl-1Dm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6284"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6306,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6284\/revisions\/6306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}