"Interviewing is a craft one does not pick up overnight."
April 17, 2025 6:47 AM Subscribe
Writer Eric Berger, who recently scored a fantastic interview with the "stranded" astronauts from the ISS, talks about what he's learned in 25 years of interviewing people. It's in an article on Arstechnica, titled “What the hell are you doing?” How I learned to interview astronauts, scientists, and billionaires"
> immediately after the launch, which took place at 1:25 am local time, [scott] kelly was freed from quarantine. this must have been liberating because he headed straight to the bar at the hotel baikonur, the nicest watering hole in the small, soviet-era town.
like, at first i was like "holy shit, he got to drink with an astronaut at an astronaut bar!", but it's even better than that — he got to drink with an astronaut at a cosmonaut bar.
posted by Sperry Topsider at 9:26 AM on April 17 [9 favorites]
like, at first i was like "holy shit, he got to drink with an astronaut at an astronaut bar!", but it's even better than that — he got to drink with an astronaut at a cosmonaut bar.
posted by Sperry Topsider at 9:26 AM on April 17 [9 favorites]
I still think the hardest thing for me as an interviewer is when you need to help an interviewee to tell their story. Some folks can be working on something I find really really interesting, but can't get it out in a way that gets others excited about it. You want to poke, prod and nudge, but not be the author of it, otherwise why bother with the interview?
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:14 AM on April 17
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:14 AM on April 17
Berger's great. I've chatted with him at some space type events I've done. That interview was amazing and he got a ton... but as he notes, it's ONLY because he'd been doing the ground work for a decade and a lot of it was off the record. I am no longer a reporter but before and now I get to have conversations with powerful and interesting people and the "good interview" is almost always after you've already established a rapport over a long period of time with them. I would not get away with some of the things I've said to or asked of certain people if I was not already on good terms with them!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 1:48 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 1:48 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
I remember reading the linked story, where the astronauts opened up to him about the cascading system failures on the spaceship. Really impressive. And he makes clear that they talked to him because they respect him -- he's been in the trenches, covering NASA and spaceflight, for more than a decade.
From my own experience as a reporter, when you put in the time on the daily grind, that pays off in two ways. One, you really know the turf. You know the facts, the history of the institution, how shit works and that you get it right when you write about it.
posted by martin q blank at 2:21 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
From my own experience as a reporter, when you put in the time on the daily grind, that pays off in two ways. One, you really know the turf. You know the facts, the history of the institution, how shit works and that you get it right when you write about it.
It’s great if a person already knows you, but even if they don’t, you can overcome that by showing genuine interest or demonstrating your deep knowledge about a subject... Not everyone at the space agency appreciates my journalism, but they know I’m deeply interested in what they’re doing. They know I care about NASA and Johnson Space Center. So I asked Wilmore a few smart questions, and he must have trusted that I would tell his story honestly and accurately, and with appropriate context.But two, you win people's respect just by having shown up. They were there every day doing their jobs, and you were there too, every day, doing your job. That matters. The trick is to do that while also maintaining your independence and the ability to write objectively -- even harder when it's about people you have every reason to like.
posted by martin q blank at 2:21 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
Too bad he wasn't a music journalist. Otherwise we could wonder how he would have fared interviewing the notoriously prickly Lou Reed.
posted by gtrwolf at 4:58 PM on April 17
posted by gtrwolf at 4:58 PM on April 17
« Older The future lies to the north | Music after Death Newer »
posted by drossdragon at 8:40 AM on April 17 [1 favorite]