A helpful interviewee.

Doing a course in journalism requires me to go out of my comfort zone and ask random people questions which I hope they'll answer. But the thing is, it's never that simple. Take today for example. I arranged to interview a councillor for my news feature, but they ended up cancelling the interview a few hours before it was due. And that just goes to prove what journalism is- you have to rely on other people to get articles written up.

But something good ended up coming out of the day, which also really benefited my work. Basically, about a week or so ago (I actually typed a blog post about it) I went into Stoke to ask business men about student nights that they were running. I was hoping to talk to the lady who set up the business, but she was on holiday at the time. However, as my news feature is once again based on students, I felt she would be a suitable interviewee.

I rang up the shop that she owns, and I was surprised that instead of simply chatting to me on the phone, she invited me down to her shop for a face-to-face interview. If you know a lot about journalism, you'll know that face-to-face interviews are the best types for a story, because you're not just getting speech- you're getting body language, facial expressions, all things that you can't see through a computer or a phone. So I quickly got my stuff together and went down there.

Once I got there, I got chatting to the shop owner and she was part of the best interview I've had. She was extremely helpful, funny, and was also really informative. I got all the information I needed from her that I could, and she also showed an interest in my university course.

I walked out of the shop with loads of information, and felt really good about the plans for the feature. It just goes to show how good it is to get a useful interviewee, and how happy it makes you feel that there are people out there who are willing to give a few minutes of their time to help others.