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Interviewing

A practical guide for citizen journalists

Types of Interviews: 4 - Person-on-the-street

Sometimes you will want to survey people informally on the street or in community gathering places, as a way of ensuring that you have diverse viewpoints or a full range of ideas about a community issue.

These kinds of interviews are sometimes referred to as “vox pop,” or “voice of the people.” So be sure to seek out diversity of gender, age and race as well as a varity of opinions on the issue at hand.

“We use vox pop for getting a pulse: What do people think about an issue?” says McDermott of Global Action Project. Such informal surveys can also point you toward issues to pursue in further reporting.

Sample script:

“Hello, I’m ______ from MyCommunityNews.org. I’m reaching out to members of the community to get feedback on today’s announcement that the city will close two elementary schools because of a funding shortfall. What do you make of this?”

Read our guides to other types of interviews

Newsgathering

Confirmation

Reaction

Experts

Adding Balance

Q & A

Advance

In-depth

Gotcha

 


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