How To Interview Like Tim Russert

Russert with his trademark dry-erase board during the 2000 presidential election. Wikipedia Photo

Tim Russert, who passed away on June 13, is known as the finest interviewer of his time. Some say he is the best ever.

He was the senior vice president and Washington bureau chief of NBC News, and is mostly remembered for being the longest serving moderator of Meet The Press, which has been on air since 1947 and is the oldest show in TV history.

Russert was declared the best and most influential journalist in Washington, and Meet The Press the most interesting and important hour on television. Time magazine had named Russert among the 100 most influential people in the world, in 2008.

Via Poynter, here are some excerpts from an article titled "How To Interview Like Tim Russert".

Great journalists ask short questions. They are open-ended questions that cannot be answered with a yes or no. They provoke thoughts, opinions, feelings, explanations and emotions from the interviewee.

Too many pundits ask long, complex, multi-pronged questions to show how smart and connected they are. Not Russert. His questions were short and direct.

And here's are excerpts from Russert's recent interview of Barak Obama.

It was a vitally important interview for Obama, who was staring the Rev. Jeremiah Wright mess in the face. The first question Russert asked was short, to-the-point and open-ended:

MR. RUSSERT: On Friday you said, "It's been a rough couple of weeks." An understatement. What has the controversy over Reverend Jeremiah Wright done to your campaign?

The follow-up question was direct -- a yes or no closed-ended question followed by a second open-ended question. The purpose was to establish a fact and then use that fact to get a more in-depth answer.

MR. RUSSERT:You're still a member of the church?

SEN. OBAMA: I am.

MR. RUSSERT: Why do you think he re-emerged?

The full article

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