Help with Emotional Interviews Part Two

Lessons Learned: Handling Emotional Interviews, Part 2 The challenge of emotional interviews, which figured in last week’s column, brought two items of feedback worth sharing. The first shares the insights of a reporter who came to the newsroom after more than two decades in nursing. The second focuses on the lessons a young reporter learned. […]

Help with Emotional Interviews

“What is the appropriate response when a subject breaks down or begins to cry during an interview?” That was the question reporter Bre Linstromberg asked in an e-mail the other day: I write features for a medium-sized newspaper in Central Illinois and I have found myself struggling in these situations. I’m not a very touchy-feely […]

Confident Writing

Tell-tale signs of strong versus insecure writing You know how, when you’re watching a speaker, you can tell if he or she is nervous? There are those tell-tale signs: trembling hands and voice, lack of eye contact, perspiration, twitches, lots of “ummms,” and a myriad of other idiosyncratic gestures and signs that show he or […]