When I listen to NPR reports from correspondents in the field, I’m always impressed by how intelligent and organized the exchanges are with the anchors.
My question: how much of this talk, if any, is scripted or planned?
Sometimes when the correspondent gives his/her report, it’s obviously something written out or at least outlined. But I’m talking about, for example, when Steve Inskeep speaks with Ofeibia Quist-Arcton and asks her something like, “What’s the background on the <whatever>?” and she launches into 500 insightful, incisive words giving the precise origins of <whatever>. Or when he asks, “How do you see this all turning out?” and she gives a danged good, intelligent answer that sounds like it’s from the hip.
Does some staffer say when they get Ofeibia on the line, “Steve is going to ask you the origins of this situation and how you think this is all going to come out,” so she can be prepared, or is all of that smart, informed, back-and-forth stuff really improvised and off the cuff such that NPR reporters are even smarter than I think they are?
For one thing many interviews you hear on NPR are edited to take out pauses, extraneous “Umms” and “Uhhs”, etc. - “On The Media” did a segment on the practice a while back.
this happens everywhere–not just on NPR, and not just on radio. Every TV news show does it.
No matter what the subject is…
You may see a reporter standing outside an office in Brussels reporting on the most boring meeting of the European Union wine taxation committee; or a reporter standing outside a courtroom in California manufacturing news by showing us the door, and telling us that in a few minutes the murder suspect will walk thru this door when the trial begins.
And in each case, the anchor person asks a question:" what effect will…(something ) have on this?", and the reporter just happens to have a well-prepared answer that lasts exactly 35 seconds till the commercial break.
I’m sure the back-and-forth banter is planned in advance.But I’d love to know how.
Can somebody here at the Dope offer some real info?
I have been interviewed before, and often given the list of questions in advance so that I can actually answer them during the interview. I would guess that there is some communication with the anchor in advance in the same way “ask me about X, Y and Z”
I have also done public speaking where I sprinkle seed questions into the audience to get the ball rolling just in case the audience is not ready with a question when we hit the Q & A period.
I would expect this during a scheduled interview, but I’m talking about those field reports where someone is face-down on a road and shells are flying, or a breaking news report where there likely wasn’t time to prepare much in advance.
I know a guy who is often interviewed on NPR. He has said they typically just call him on the phone without much warning. Then, they discuss things without much preparation or pre-planning. That said, they often interview him about things that he has written entire books about, so it’s not as though he is gonna be at a loss for words.
The end result is usually heavily edited so that it will sound more fluid and direct on the radio. One way they do this is that the reporter may ask a broad question, then ask him to elaborate on any point he has made that they think might be suitable for the story. In the end, it might be edited to seem as though those were his immediate responses to the questions asked.