Slashdot Mirror


Interviewing the Interviewer (vulture.com)

Terry Gross, NPR's The Fresh Air host, on the art of the Q&A: "People are always projecting things. They're hearing things that weren't said or projecting meaning that was not intended and, perhaps, not even implied. I've gotten both insults and compliments for interviews I've never done. What can you do? There's no way of controlling what people think. I do have a bullshit detector and it's something I'll use, but I do think I try and be empathetic to everyone I interview," said Terry Gross.

37 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Why is this on Slashdot? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    Interesting to know if you have a better example of how to interview someone.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. The nerd connection by DrTJ · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So this is an interview where one interviewer interviews and another interviewer who usually interviews some famous people?

    Where's the nerd connection? Is it that the nerds among us would start genering jokes about the meta-levels of interviewing?

    Can we reach level three here by having a slashdot Q&A with the author? Level four, anybody?

    1. Re:The nerd connection by hey! · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Terry Gross is probably the best in the world at what she does. I find that interesting. How did she get that way? Well it turns out that fear of not being good enough is at least part of what makes her good at her job. I find that interesting too.

      How did she end up doing what she does? She failed at something else (being a writer). That's something that resonates in tech.

      And she talks about making the trolls angry.

      But ultimately being exposed to different information than you're used to isn't tantamount to an injury. It's good for you, just like reading an article on technology would be good for someone who mainly reads about public affairs, or art history.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    2. Re:The nerd connection by quonset · · Score: 2, Informative

      But ultimately being exposed to different information than you're used to isn't tantamount to an injury. It's good for you,

      Which is why Republicans are continually trying to kill NPR. It exposes people to different ideas, different points of view, different lifestyles, different people. That can't be allowed to happen.

      Imagine the chaos which would ensue if people could get information about what was happening not only in their country, but around the world, and not be told what to think.

    3. Re:The nerd connection by kencurry · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sometimes she roots out weird stuff and tech you would never have guessed. I remember her interview with a Dr. so & so who wrote a bio on Kellogg family. their story had weird religion & social engineering, but also very science oriented. Legit nutrition science for cereals as a quick breakfast for children back when that was not a simple thing. I learned a lot on that interview. So, yeah, there is good nerdy tech in her interviews, but it's surrounded by thoughts and stories of the artists, scientists, people etc.

      --
      sigs are for losers (except to point out that sigs are for losers)
    4. Re:The nerd connection by PCM2 · · Score: 2

      Terry Gross is probably the best in the world at what she does.

      Wow, I just couldn't disagree more. I stopped listening to her years ago because of her softball interviewing style, with questions that are either uninformed or ignorant or that just plain miss the point. If her interview subjects end up saying really interesting things, it's not because of anything Terry Gross did. I think she's really terrible, and I'm not talking about political interviews, either. If she had Guillermo del Toro on, I expect she'd ask him how he first got interested in water.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
    5. Re:The nerd connection by DrTJ · · Score: 1

      While I listen to public radio for an hour or so every day, I had never heard of this woman before.
      I had never even heard of NPR, or that the Republicans (as per below) wanted to shut down the NPR.

      Not every slashdot reader lives in the american culture frame of reference.

      Well, another day where I learned something.

  3. Re: Why is this on Slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Bill O'Reilly

  4. Why the quotes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    NPR to be informed.

    I don't get why folks have a problem with NPR. It's the only news source that I can actually hear both sides without the yelling and other bullshit - they do have many conservatives and Republicans on and let them say what they have to say. As a matter of fact, it's the only source where I can actually hear and understand the conservative side because the NPR folks actually ask decent questions.

    And NPR is the news source that keeps me a centrist and not drinking the Leftist Kool-Aid because I can hear the rational versions of the conservative side - unlike Fox News.

    I also can hear the rational side of the liberal side.

    1. Re:Why the quotes? by MightyYar · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It's the best of the "two sides to every story" echo chamber. But as your comment reinforces, we are stuck in a two party mentality and getting a slick spokesman from the Democrat and Republican parties to comment on your show does not illuminate a path to the truth. I listen to NPR all the time, but their bias is sufficient to make me chuckle. Some of the in-depth shows on NPR are excellent - to some extent the news shows are limited by their format. Terry Gross, on topic, once did an interview with Bill O'Reilly. Now, he is a tremendous asshole - but her interview was immediately combative and he ended up walking off the set. During the interview, O'Reilly pointed out that she had just interviewed Al Franken - a fellow political entertainer - and he was given a softball interview. Listening to the Franken interview, it is true - it was a lovefest. I still listen to her and respect her, but her political bias is obvious.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    2. Re:Why the quotes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I've been listening to NPR quite a bit over the years and while there are plenty of things they run that are interesting and correct, there is also a major and obvious problem that they have with bias when it comes to shows that discuss anything that can have a feminist/social justice agenda overlaid on it. Diane Rehm and the replacement show 1A in particular are notorious for letting feminist dogma on the show unchallenged and the only opposing views or even facts that might be presented are token, easily dismissed items selected by the call screeners that only give the sound of "both sides" but the actual expressions and concerns of opposing sides are not allowed. NPR shows claim to thoroughly vet the people coming onto those shows and what they want to present but they clearly do not, especially with feminists.

      Prime case I distinctly remember from last year: Lauren Duca was on 1A complaining about Martin Shkreli "harassing" her and "his fans" then coming after her and abusing and harassing her and threatening her with things up to and including death. Of course, Lauren Duca was covertly photographing Shkreli in a bar without permission and posting the photo to Twitter and bitching about his existence a year before that show, and she is basically an aggressive troll herself (she is basically a professional white man hater that can't keep her mouth shut about her hatred for white men):

      PRO TIP:Most men who insult your "journalistic integrity" are bored as hell at their shitty desk jobs. Or just mad in their mom's basements.

      Lol wow, so many mangy white men are going to go to jail for the riots after Hillary wins. #debatenight

      Happy #WomensEqualityDay!! Straight, white men, unless I have spoken to you separately about this issue, please refrain from all engagement.

      Friendly reminder that there's an uneven playing field, and straight, white men are generally trash!

      GOP Uses Craig's List To Find Suitable Candidate, White Men Seeking White Man, Must Hate Women/The Poor

      Gosh, you look super overprivileged and milky white carrying that starving African baby in your prof pic! Thanks for saving the world!

      I AM GOING TO FUCKING KILL THE NEXT RANDOM MAN THAT TALKS TO ME

      She's basically a vile racist sexist cunt and no one on 1A challenged her. NPR couldn't do the two minutes of research I did to find her deleted hate tweets? Give me a break.

      Don't even get me started on that Diane Rehm show about "the sexual assault epidemic and what it says about our culture." That was a truckload of bullshit from the start. A bunch of high-profile sexual misconduct claims doesn't make the entirety of America full of sexual harassers and rapists. Between 1995 and 2010, the rate of completed rape or sexual assault declined from 3.6 per 1,000 females to 1.1 per 1,000. What THAT says about our culture is that we were well on the way to not sexually assaulting people before the SJW movement blew up in 2012, but no one on Diane Rehm's show challenged anything the feminists there said. Oh, and note that on issues with feminist ties, they ONLY invite feminists to be part of the show.

      The questions I've heard tossed out on the BBC world service on NPR are also often feminist and heavily left-leaning. There is very strong and obvious bias in the questions asked by BBC interviewers. They often ask the exact same questions rephrased and repackaged to insist that their left-leaning view is corre

    3. Re: Why the quotes? by dougdonovan · · Score: 1

      i still have to interview the recruiter to see if they are IT compatable. if not. i hang up or delete the email. i have had to call their corporate office to suggest the recruiter get a job at mcdonalds.

    4. Re:Why the quotes? by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      Read the rest of this comment...

      No.

      Shit leading up to that invite to continue are irrelevant to Terry Gross, so why would I?

      Fuck off.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    5. Re:Why the quotes? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      And NPR is the news source that keeps me a centrist and not drinking the Leftist Kool-Aid because I can hear the rational versions of the conservative side - unlike Fox News.

      Wow. Lots of mixed messages in there: "keeps me centrist", "not drinking the Leftist Kool-Aid" , "rational versions of conservative side" -- that last one is pretty funny given recent/current events -- "Fox 'News'" (extra quotes mine).

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    6. Re:Why the quotes? by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      Now, assholes like yourself ...

      Actually, I'm more of a shithole.

      ... think that ...

      TL;DR

      Fuck off.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    7. Re:Why the quotes? by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      I got a name.

      You?

      Troll on.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    8. Re:Why the quotes? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      True, I am always surprised by how much shouting and mudslinging there is on some mainstream news outlets. And when it's not there, there is still the louder volume than normal. It feels a bit like they're channeling the "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" line from Network. But on NPR it remains much more civilized even on controversial topics, and if the show is a call-in show the moderator works to keep things cordial. And it works.

      Sure, NPR in San Francisco has a more leftish bent, especially with its local shows. But NPR is also a mainstay in a lot of rural area and red states, and the programming varies. But if a listener blows up if someone criticizes either Trump or Obama, then the problem is with the listener.

      As for being balanced, when the same program gets complaints that it was pro-Palestinian and also complaints that it was pro-Israel, then it's a good sign that it's in the middle and isn't bowing to pressure to keep one side quiet.

    9. Re:Why the quotes? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      There used to be a nice show where they would have two people with very opposed views talk things out, and the moderator mostly sat back. It wasn't run as a set of quips and soundbites getting equal time, there was actual discussion of ideas from guests who don't act like stereotypes. It was the opposite of an echo chamber, the whole point of the show was to expose people to other ideas and viewpoints. Sure, there are some listeners who will never get past their own ideas that all liberals are empty headed hippies and all conservatives are racist bigots, but public radio and television is trying hard to disabuse those notions. Other US media seem to be playing up those stereotypes to attract viewers and advertising dollars.

      As for Terry Gross, she's not a reporter an editorialist. 90% or more of her interviews are with entertainers, authors, musicians, comedians, and so forth. When she does an interview with a politician, it's usually because that politician just wrote a book. Whether she has political leanings or not is irrelevant, because there is no person on the planet who is not in a coma that has no political opinions.

      When a show takes a political bent, we know it has a political bent. The average NPR listener is not so stupid as to believe it all. And the people who are talking on the radio are not trying to present themselves as the source of all truth.

      Most listeners are on NPR because there is no better alternative out there.

    10. Re:Why the quotes? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      You also have to distinguish between all the shows and where they come from. There's NPR, APR, the local stations themselves, and so forth. I don't like Michael Krasny from KQED (San Francisco) often as things just get too liberal or too parochial, but that's his own show and not officially sponsored by NPR, PBS or anything but the local station.

    11. Re:Why the quotes? by tomhath · · Score: 1

      Pay attention to how they report both sides of the story. Usually it's gushing prose for the liberal side, with carefully selected soundbites to support their it. Then a couple of quotes taken out of context to mock the conservative side, usually read in a snarky tone by the reporter.

    12. Re:Why the quotes? by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      Fuck off.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    13. Re:Why the quotes? by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      LOL

      Fuck off.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    14. Re:Why the quotes? by pots · · Score: 1

      I don't know squat about Terry Gross or her political bias, but... there's another angle there: Bill O'Reilly is a journalist, and a really bad one. It's easy to see why she, another journalist, might dislike him for purely professional (i.e.: non-political) reasons.

      This is not an excuse, I'm just saying that politics isn't always the reason for everything.

    15. Re:Why the quotes? by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      It was just a very stark example so I chose it. You could be right, but then all I can say is she has a very strong correlation between "guests she respects" and "liberal guests". I still like to listen to some of her interviews - her show is a regular podcast of mine (though I admit to skipping the artsy and celebrity ones, which are most of them these days).

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    16. Re:Why the quotes? by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      Well, Gross's political leanings wouldn't be a big deal if she wasn't bragging about how empathetic she is with the interviewee.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    17. Re:Why the quotes? by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      8/10, would read troll again.

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  5. Astute by DaMattster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Say what you will about Terry Gross, but she is an astute observer and has a breadth of knowledge about human psychology from the sheer number of years that she has spent interviewing and studying people. I find her personally overbearing and a little annoying but I will give her the credit she is due. However, I do like it when her bullshit-o-meter hits critical mass and she can no longer hold back. People need a good solid dose of reality at times.

  6. Re:Why is this on Slashdot? by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 1

    Would you like to post a link to an interview that you felt was extremely biased one way or the other? NPR has everything up on their website.

  7. Re:Terry Gross by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I meant surprising if they claimed left-right blindness or admitted they're not sensitive to their donors when choosing content.

  8. Re:Why is this on Slashdot? by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    Now this isn't all Terri's fault... Bill O'Reilly is a huge douchebag and Al Franken is charming. But listen to her differing approach in these two interviews of people who, at the time, had almost the exact same role (political-based entertainment):
    Bill O'Reilly's Fresh Air Interview
    Al Franken's Fresh Air Interview

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  9. And thank you for that!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Your comment is a perfect example of a NPR listener!

    We are discerning, we don't take things at face value, we question and are skeptical......

    Of course there's horseshit! We've all heard it. I mean there have been times when I have cringed at what I've heard.

    But all in all, NPR is one of the best things in the USA for information - obviously it's not perfect. But that's what the tissue in our skull is for.

    You're preaching to choir.

    -Parent Poster

  10. Re:Why is this on Slashdot? by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure what that has to do with my point... did the word "Franken" trigger you? I certainly wasn't defending the man, but he is charming. So is Bill Clinton, and I think the man is far worse than Franken in the sexual predator department.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  11. Re: Why is this on Slashdot? by MightyYar · · Score: 2

    I was just trying to cut Terri a break - but whether or not you agree that he is charming is not really important to make my point. She clearly approached the two men very differently and my assertion is it was (perhaps unconscious) bias on her part.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  12. Re:Why is this on Slashdot? by CaptainDork · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    You don't think:

    1.) Terry Gross is a nerd?

    2.) That her stuff matters?

    I do, and I enjoyed the article.

    Get your own goddam forum and edit it yourself.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  13. She prompts her guests too much by Picodon · · Score: 1

    I’m really not fond of her interviewing style. I find that, like many seasoned journalists, she rarely lets her guests develop their thoughts for more than a few seconds, interrupting them and then speaking as much (if not more) than them. She has the irritating tendency to feed words to her guests (at least, those who are less comfortable speaking than her), starting a line of thought for them (as in “It must have felt so blah blah such and such. How did you feel when blah blah blah?”) and getting them to just repeat and complete the line, and so basically making them say something that they likely would not have quite said on their own. She may be confusing that technique with “getting them to open up” but, in reality, the result feels about as valuable as a forced police confession.

    It’s a pity, given that her shows are pre-recorded and edited, giving her the opportunity to let guests take as much time as they’d like to precisely formulate their thoughts.

    1. Re:She prompts her guests too much by Quirkz · · Score: 1

      Yeah. I learned in high school that you ask open-ended questions and let them give you their answer. Extensive projection, suggestion, and exposition, often leading to a yes-or-no response, is the opposite of what you want. I guess Terry is going for a more conversational process, but the more she talks, the more uncomfortable I get listening, and usually give up pretty quickly.

  14. Re:Why is this on Slashdot? by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    Apparently, it meant a LOT to you.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.