Customer Reviews

Creative Interviewing: The Writer's Guide to Gathering Information by Asking Questions (3rd Edition)

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The first edition of this book was used in a journalism program I took about 13 years ago. I found it to be a great, entertaining read, and extremely valuable in its common-sense approach to interviewing. Over the years since, I have trained many beginning journalists, and I find myself returning to Metzler's ideas often. I think this book should be required reading for anyone who has to conduct information-gathering interviews.

I am not a writer nor journalist but a person in the field of marketing. Since journalists are the experts at extracting information from people they are interviewing, I thought this could help me in my field. In marketing, it is necessary for me to understand why people buy or have an affinity with a certain product or person. I interview people in the same manner journalists do but with a slightly different objective in mind. I explore the person's mind to find an unkown reason for buying a certain product just as journalist wants to discover something never revealed before to the public about an actor or politician. This book provided me with many new insights about the person being interviewed, their reasons for opening up to the interviewer and how to conduct the interview in an organised manner while also being flexible when things start to lead astray from my original plans. This book has helped me in many ways. I highly recommend it to business people to read as well.

This book shows you how to conduct just about every type of interview. It also explains concepts, helps the journalist devise a plan and more importantly provides key information on how to cope with the "difficult interview." In my opinion, "The Writer's Guide to Gathering Information by Asking Questions: Creatinve Interviewing," by Ken Metzler should be required reading for serious journalism students everywhere.

"The need for interviewing skills is by no means confined to newspaper writers," according to the author. And I agree. The corporate world is always interviewing...they are always on the look for new talent. In many cases, they need to be better than simply ask, "where do you want to be in five years."

Believe or not there truly are many typical errors you want to avoid when interviewing. To this end, you will find a healthy discussion on how to avoid mistakes here. Moreover, this book will help you navigate the tricky interview process. Chapters two and three are terrific. Chapter two outlines the ten stages of the interview. And chapter three covers the conversational dynamics of interviewing. This book even includes a chapter on interviewing excercises.

All in all this book is a valuable tool for everyone interested in making journalism a profession. The gathering of information in journalism is primarily done by oral means. Consequently, it makes sense to seek the knowledge of a book that helps you control an interview and how to handle sensitive issues. Highly recommended.

Bert Ruiz

Good interviewing skills are essential for freelance writers. Ken Metzler's book, Creative Interviewing: The Writer's Guide to Gathering Information by Asking Questions, is an excellent source for learning how to conduct an interview and improving your interviewing techniques.

Did you know that most interviews happen in ten stages? Mr. Metzler explains, "Face-to-Face interviews usually, though not always, run through ten stages. Four stages occur before you even meet your respondent. The success of the six subsequent ones depends largely on how well you accomplish the first four."

Do you know what the ten interview stages are? Here's the list from Creating Interviewing:

1. Defining the purpose of the interview
2. Conducting background research
3. Requesting an interview appointment
4. Planning the interview
5. Meeting your respondent: breaking the ice
6. Asking your first questions
7. Establishing an easy rapport
8. Asking the bomb
9. Recovering from the bomb
10. Concluding the interview

Based on this ten stage list, Mr. Metzler details all the ins and outs to creating and conducting interviews. From his text you'll learn what makes for a constructive interview, details on accomplishing the Ten Stages, how to form and ask questions, find sources, and more. There's even a chapter on how to be the interviewee, which will hopefully be important to all of us someday.

Creative Interviewing is written in clear, concise prose, with a pleasant sense of humor thrown into the mix. Mr. Metzler also provides plenty of case studies and anecdotes to help you learn by example for your own interviews.

If you're serious about improving your interviewing skills you'll want to add Creating Interviewing to your writer's bookshelf.

This compact paperback is filled with information, from defining your interviewing problem, anatomy of interview, dynamics, probing, and strategy. The book contains actual interviews, with exercises, special problems. Guide is offered for newsbeat reporting to broadcast television and personality interviewing. A wonderful, thorough, guide to creative interviewing. ....MzRizz.

"Creative Interviewing" is a standard text in journalism classes. Even if you're not a student, however, it's still worth its $60+ cover price. Metzler uses anecdotes, exercises, and statistics to teach prospective (and current!) reporters about the interviewing game.

Are you clueless as to how to set up interviews? More nervous than your respondent? Unsure whether you should record interviews with a tape recorder or take notes? Metzler answers all of these questions and more. Metzler's brand of journalism is humble and at-odds with sensationalistic television "journalism," so it's a refreshing read.

The 3rd edition is from 1996 and thus the chapters on the Internet and e-mail are slightly dated. Hopefully there's a 4th edition in the works!

I got this one loaned to me by a friend - looks very good - just started reading it. It brought some other books to mind that I've already read (with a different angle) and would like to recommend:

Shifting the focus from the "interviewee" to the "interviewer" ( the reporter & the media group they represent) - putting them instead "under the microscope!

Check out "BLUR: How To Know What's True In The Age Of Information Overload" by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel
It introduces us to 4 types of journalism (the last 3 being newer and toxic forms of it):
1. The Journalism of Verification 2. The Journalism of Assertion 3. The Journalism of Affirmation and 4. Interest-Group Journalism
It offers a bit of history on how we got into this digital/electronic news mess. It also (and more importantly) offers a "quality control" check list that allows the general "news consumers" to strip away all the BS and see how and when media manipulation is at work from "reporters."

Taking all this to an even deeper level and shifting the focus once again from the "interviewers" (the reporters & the media groups they represent) and instead putting the "mediums of communication" (Technology information delivery formats) under the microscope,

Check out: "Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse In The Age of Show Business" 10th Anniversary Edition by Neil Postman
From the back cover - "what happens to Journalism, Education and Religion when they too become forms of show business?"

Bought this book for a college class (required) but it would definitely be useful to anyone interested in pursuing journalism/writing careers

This book provides alot of good information and was very helpful to one who needed practical material on an introductory basis

I recently purchased this book, a requirment for one of my classes, at a cost of $32. It is absolutely criminal to charge such an exhorbinant amount of money for 50 cents worth of material. It makes me wonder if college profs, along with the authors of these textbooks are staying within the bounds of America's anti-trust laws. It would seem to me that the price of the book has been inflated beyond what any rational person without a class would pay for it. Here's a theory for you. The college profs and authors of the textbooks have a pact. You require the book that I write and I'll require yours. Then we both charge triple what it's worth and run with the money. Next year we print a twenty-fifth edition simply by changing the chapter order and make out with a steal again. This is rediculous. If it can be prooved a lawsuit is pending.