Just a conversation

By Maia Irvin 

The New York Times podcast, The Daily, posted an episode on October 14 in which the host Michael Barbaro interviewed Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent of the Times.

We talked and watched a video in class about the fact that Barbaro is a journalist who is renowned for his interviewing skills, and after listening to this short podcast, I would have to agree. 

This episode was not about anything extremely controversial or emotional that Barbaro really dug into, but the interviewing skills he used were still evident. 

What I noticed right away was the fact that Barbaro did not talk much during the entirety of the episode. He asked his questions and then let his guest speak for most of the time, which is good because it gave Baker the space to elaborate on his answers. 

I also noticed that Barbaro continuously signaled that he was listening by making sounds of affirmation like "mhmm" and "right" throughout the episode. It is important to show your interviewee that you are actively listening to them. 

The questions that Barbaro asked were also clearly based on facts and background research that he and his team had conducted before the interview which showed his preparedness as a journalist. Additionally, most of these questions were open-ended, so they allowed Baker the ability to delve further into his answers. 

Lastly, I noticed that some of his questions did not seem like actual questions. He did not always finish his sentences with the uplift of an imaginary question mark, but sometimes he made a statement and then left it up in the air for Baker to latch on to. This made the interview seem like it was just a normal conversation between two people, which is an important aspect of interviews because interviews really are just conversations. 

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