NEWS INTERVIEW
– 182 candidates;
– 113 passed – 62 per cent

The October 2005 interview was about an incident in Oxdown town centre in which a firefighter was killed attempting to rescue a teenager trapped in a stolen car that had crashed into a shop. The teenager also died when the car exploded in a ball of flames.

CCTV footage had captured the car racing up and down nearby streets shortly before it crashed into Oxdown DIY Centre and a description of two other youths running away from the scene was available in the candidates’ briefing notes. A vivid picture of the attempt by the firefighter and one of his colleagues to rescue the trapped teenage driver was also available to those candidates who conducted a thorough and logical interview.

Markers were looking for good use of dynamic verbs and adjectives to convey the drama, a key quote high in the story followed by a strong, logical approach with a mix of quotes and reported speech.

It was difficult to get all the key points in the intro but good reports incorporated a dramatic account of the two deaths, the rescue attempt and the fact the car was stolen in at least the first couple of pars. Candidates were heavily penalised if they did not make clear early in the story that the teenager had died.

The teenager was never referred to by the interviewee as a ‘joyrider’ but markers took a neutral approach to this description used in some reports. This is only fair as candidates are required to write in the style of their own newspaper and therefore reflects the different approaches that would be taken by different newspapers. Candidates were, however, heavily penalised if they did not report the car had been stolen in the first few pars of their story.

It was impossible to incorporate all the information made available to candidates but good reports included a high level of detail about the main incident – when, where and how the drama unfolded – ID information about the firefighter who died, his injured colleague, the dead teenager and descriptions of the two youths seen running from the scene. Details about the stolen car and the police appeal phone number made for a rounded story.

There was a wide selection of emotive quotes available to a thorough interviewer and at least three full, verbatim quotes well placed through the story were required. Minor variations were not penalised but there was a tendency for quotes to be poorly reported which perhaps implies shorthand note-taking is generally weak. Some candidates tried to make up for a lack of direct quotes from their interview by focusing on the eyewitness material available in the briefing paper. Although it was quite acceptable to use some of this detail it should have been used in the second half of the story.

Markers were, however, pleased by the general accuracy in most reports – there were only a handful of errors that would have resulted in a complaint to the editor.

The most worrying trend though was superficial interview technique. Many candidates were able to comfortably work their way through the timeline but failed to drill down to get a full picture. Only a minority of candidates provided a rounded picture of the dead firefighter as a person. There was plenty of information about his wife and children, his career, his hobbies and quotes about his personality but most candidates failed to vividly draw this picture. Some candidates also failed to describe the car, the other two youths and police appeal phone number for information.

It was also apparent that some candidates took a scattergun approach to gathering information, interrupted their interviewee and generally failed to listen to what they were being told. Interviewing technique is the cornerstone of good reporting and more attention should be paid to this vital skill if standards are to be maintained.