eporter approaches the man whom he wishes to interview. It is never
well to trust to the inspiration of the moment to start the
conversation. The reporter must know exactly what he wishes to have the
man say before he approaches him and must already have framed his
questions so as to draw out the answers that he wishes. People are never
interviewed except for a purpose and that purpose should suggest the
reporter's first question. No matter how willing the man is to tell what
he thinks he will seldom begin talking until the reporter asks him a
definite question to help him in putting his thoughts into words. All of
this should be considered beforehand. The reporter should have outlined
a definite campaign and have a series of questions which he wishes to
ask. If he has written the questions out beforehand, the task becomes an
easier one--he merely fills in the answers on his list later and has the
interview in better form than if he had tried to trust entirely to his
memory. To be sure, the questions may open up unexpected lines of
thought and he may get more than he went for, but he must have his
questions ready for use as soon as each new line is exhausted. A skilled
reporter frames the interview himself and keeps the result entirely in
his own hands through the campaign that he has outlined beforehand.
Unless he knows exactly what he wants to get, a wary victim may lead him
off upon unimportant facts and in the end tell him nothing that his
paper has sent him to get. A reporter must keep the reins of an
interview in his own possession.

A good reporter takes great care in his manner of addressing a man whom
he is to interview. A well-known newspaper follows the rule of asking
its reporters never to do what a gentleman would not do. A reporter who
is trying to interview must always be a gentleman and must not ask
questions that a gentleman would not ask. If the victim is a prominent
man of great personality it is not hard to follow this rule--in fact, it
is impossible to get the interview by any other method of approach. But
when one is trying to interview a person of humbler station, the case is
different. It is very easy then to fall into a habit of demanding
information and turning the interview into an inquisition. But the
reporter who keeps his attitude as a gentleman gets more real facts even
when his victim is of the most humble social status. Therefore, never
approach your victim as if he were a witness and you