Jen Maxfield, broadcast journalism veteran, on perfecting the interview

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No doubt, a staple skill of any aspiring journalist is interviewing but knowing what questions to ask is only a fraction of the skill involved.

In fact, that will only get you so far without the other crucial, and often understated, component of interviewing: listening. It's why so many journalists will insist that the best soundbites that end up in the final edit are a result of follow-up questions or unexpected additional remarks.

Arguably, nowhere is this more important than in the broadcast interview, where you are often dealing with an unfolding situation or a sensitive story. 

In this week's podcast, we speak to Jen Maxfield, an Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist and anchor with more than 20 years of experience, working for various US stations including NBC New York, Eyewitness News and WIXT.

She has made her name specialising in on-the-ground and local TV journalism. During the podcast, she provides words of wisdom on the many types of interview situations that journalists can encounter, including how to learn from your rookie errors - something that makes experienced pros so good at their craft.

Maxfield teaches broadcast journalism as an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York and is the author of ‘More After the Break’, in which she looks back at ten of her most memorable news stories.

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