3.2 Get ready for the pre-interview

A pre-interview is normally a quick off-the-record interview in which you take notes but you don't report on the interviewee's views. It helps you to understand the context of a development on which you are planning to report. Particularly for television and radio reporters, a pre-interview is often used to determine if a scientist might be a suitable candidate for broadcasting. Print reporters sometimes discover that they can use their pre-interview notes for the final article, in which case they may need to check with the source to make sure this is acceptable, as what people will say off the record is not always the same as what they say on the record.

Preliminary interviews can be useful whether you are a freelancer planning to pitch a story to an editor or you have already been assigned a story.

Email and face-to-face interviews can be too time-consuming for a pre-interview. What about phoning a local researcher for a brief (five minute) discussion? Maybe you can email them the relevant press release (if there is one) so they understand your needs. Pre-interviews can be a good way of double-checking any information you may have already gathered from search engines such as Google. Sometimes you need to check on a scientist's credentials, as some completely disreputable researchers can still have what appears to be an authoritative presence on the internet.

Jot down all the interview candidates recommended by the person you are pre-interviewing, and their contact details if available. If nothing else, you will improve your contact book, which will come in useful later.

Warning: Relying on the same people over and over again for pre-interviews is boring and risky, as scientists may only recommend colleagues or friends. See if you can discover a variety of people to interview, including rival researchers.


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