The art & craft of the interview: How to deeply listen

The coronavirus pandemic has forced journalists to collect their stories from afar. Conducting an in-person interview is near impossible. On the telephone or on a video call, the ability to pay attention is crucial. Do you listen, or do you wait to ask? The National Press Club Journalism Institute has invited two of the best interviewers in journalism — Terry Gross and Michael Barbaro — to have a discussion on July 17, from 4-4:30 p.m., about the challenges and opportunities of interviewing now. Marketplace correspondent Kimberly Adams will moderate.

The first part of this program will be a conversation with Terry and Michael, and the second part of the program will be a Q&A with participants. 

Registration is open. 

Terry Gross is the host and co-executive producer of Fresh Air, the acclaimed radio interview program produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR. 

Fresh Air with Terry Gross has won numerous awards, including a National Humanities Medal from President Obama, the Peabody Award, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Edward R. Murrow Award for her “outstanding contributions to public radio” and for advancing the “growth, quality and positive image of radio.” Gross is the author of All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians and Artists, published by Hyperion in 2004.

A good interviewer and a good conversationalist share a common trait, she once told the New York Times: “Being genuinely curious, and wanting to hear what the other person is telling you.”

Michael Barbaro is host of The Daily, the New York Times must-listen morning news podcast. The Daily debuted in February 2017 as a five-day-a-week program and quickly became the Times’ flagship podcast. Within nine months of its launch, The Daily was downloaded more than 100 million times. It now is #1 in Podtrac’s ranking of top podcasts in the U.S. The show won a  2018 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. It has been named among best podcasts by Time and Entertainment Weekly. This year it won a special achievement Webby Award from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. In describing Barbaro’s signature style and tone, The New Yorker wrote the The Daily “offers not just facts but feels.”

This program is one of an ongoing series of free conversations. Upcoming:

• Newsroom leadership in the age of Black Lives Matter with Mizell Stewart III, Katrice Hardy and Mary Irby-Jones (July 10, 11:30am-12:00pm)
• Being heard: How to use your voice so people listen with Sewell Chan, Erika Smith, Nikole Hannah-Jones and Jake Silverstein (July 29, 11:30am-12:15pm)