Are you really listening? How some early career journalists approach interviewing in a new way
From left to right: Kara Edgerson from KBIA, and students Anna Colleto, Dominique Hodge, and Maggie Turner. Rebecca Smith (KBIA), student Haven Dager, and professor Janet Saidi are in the back. (Maria Arce / America Amplified)
In Denmark, there’s a project called The Human Library. It started in 2000 as a four-day event where people could access fifty “human books” – experts on a topic based on their lived experience. The human book would sit at a table for two inside a library and wait for “readers” to arrive and listen to what they have to say. What happens next is a conversation where topics can be discussed openly and the “readers” listen actively.
A similar dynamic happened recently in Centralia, a rural community 22 miles from Columbia, Missouri. Public media station KBIA, based in Columbia, planned a listening session at Centralia’s Public Library. To set up the event, Janet Saidi, a long-form audio producer, arrived early on a Friday morning in November with four journalism students from the University of Missouri. They organized tables and chairs, loveseats, and a portable radio studio to talk with local experts – that is residents – about the town of Centralia.
KBIA staff promoted the event at local coffee and tea shops, restaurants, and small businesses in Centralia. On the appointed day, around 15 people showed up at the library. Some came for the arts and crafts class, others to return or pick up a new book. Most of them decided to be part of the listening session with the journalism students and KBIA staff.
America Amplified’s Maria Arce was also at the event and she was struck by the enthusiasm and focus of the journalism students as they interviewed Centralia residents. She spoke to Saidi about the event as well as the students themselves, seeking to understand what seemed to be a different approach to interviewing.
What was the main objective of this engagement initiative?
Janet Saidi: When we first started doing these community-first engagement journalism projects, the students were very practical. They needed audio clips [to produce stories before they graduate]. But I've been surprised and gratified to see the students really get [this approach to journalism]. They understand that this kind of journalism is really important and they're not only willing, they're hungry for this kind of journalism. This generation of journalists was graduating from high school in 2020 and around that time they saw the world turned upside down in several different ways, and it's still going on. The people signing up for journalism now are signing up to do something different than it was for previous generations.
Images from KBIA listening session. (Maria Arce / America Amplified)
Why did you decide to focus on Centralia?
Saidi: That was in collaboration with Kathy Kielly, a journalism professor at the Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia. She already had a class of journalists looking at the rural and underserved communities surrounding us in Boone County. (Centralia) is one of the closest communities that seems, nevertheless, far away. It has a very different economy, culture, and history than Columbia.
The four students who participated in the initiative also spoke with America Amplified about the experience and how it changed their perception of journalists’ roles. They also have some tips for public media stations experimenting with engagement journalism.
How would you describe the experience of listening for an engagement journalism initiative compared to listening for a story?
Dominique Hodge: Interviewing for engagement differs from interviewing for news. When you’re listening for news, there is an end goal and you ask questions to meet your needs for that story. But when [interviewing for listening], there's no story. This is about them and their community. How you immerse yourself in their views, beliefs, and mindsets is different. During the process, I was tempted to ask different questions and pry, but that's not what engagement is about. It is about hearing everything the interviewee thinks I should know, everything you think everyone should know about your community. And give this person the floor.
Anna Colletto does a sound check at the KBIA portable radio studio. (Maria Arce / America Amplified)
How do you ensure you are fully engaged when someone is speaking to you?
Haven Dager: I do what I call a story brain map. When I'm doing an interview just to listen, anytime we talk about a big topic, or there's a quote or a word that I liked, I write it down. Then, I just draw an arrow from that to the next topic. It helps me stay in the form and track how the conversation went without being taken away from a process like taking notes.
What steps did you take to create a safe and open environment for community members to share their experiences?
Hodge: I wanted to ensure that I was fully receptive to my interviewee in the moment. And when I noticed a glimpse of a smile on the person, I followed that. My strategy is to say: I see you smile when you mentioned helping children. What makes you happy? What fills your heart with joy? But it’s the same with other emotions. When I noticed there was a little distress or the person was nervous. I would say: This is tense. This is nerve-wracking. I could feel it. What about it is uncomfortable? I follow where they lead me and just lean into those emotions. I'm looking at your emotions.
Dager: I make sure that my body language is received as a safe place, a non-invasive space. It’s dropping my walls and being open. I do that and read the person's body language, too. I can ask better questions when I connect with them physically. Also, I would say to give a question a few avenues and allow for a change of direction during the conversation. I want them to take control of the conversation.
Did this experience change your perception of journalists' role in fostering trust and building community relationships? If so, how?
Hodge: It caused me to reflect and realize how important it is to keep in touch and water those connections with communities. Just because the story's over, it doesn't mean that person doesn't exist anymore and that we shouldn't be periodically sending emails or calls or doing what we can to tell them I'm here, I’m your neighborhood journalist. People have kind of a haze about what we do and our motivations, and we don't make it any better by just parachuting in whenever we have a story. I think it taught me a lesson that we need to humanize ourselves.
Dominique Hodge conducts an interview during the listening session in Centralia. (Maria Arce / America Amplified)
What advice would you give other journalism students or professionals about listening with intention during community engagement efforts?
Maggie Turner: Start by asking about the town you're in. What's your favorite place here? Tell me about a location that maybe other people don't know about. If you ask them about their favorite thing, it really helps them to open up and be more willing to talk. I asked a lady to describe her favorite place in town, and she said it was the Rose Garden. I was like, Oh, I don't know anything about that. Can you please describe to me why you like it? It helped her to open up because people love talking about things they love.
Dager: My advice would be that your ear is your biggest organ that day. When I allow my ears to be my biggest sense, the others sense complement, and I can see, feel, and even smell the environment. I'm able to really get involved and into that person. So my biggest advice is to let your ears be the biggest organ and your heart second. And let your mouth be the smallest one.
Hodge: There's nothing wrong with being a journalist in the news cycle and doing the daily news routine. But what engagement teaches you is a reflective process. It helps you look within and teach you. Have you been a good listener? What could you be doing in your daily reporting to make sure that you are truly serving the needs of your community? How could you reach or speak to your community if you've never listened? If you put yourself out there and try engagement journalism, you'll find better ways to help establish trust and perfect relationship-building in your news and reporting.
Colletto: I think some newsrooms or professionals feel this kind of practice should be something individual journalists are expected to do. But there is power in carving out a specific initiative, project, or group effort to do engagement journalism together. It's important for individual journalists to do it, but if people from a newsroom make the trip to a small town or a public library and just be there and be present, it does a lot to humanize the newsroom and the reporting. And it demystifies the process or the people behind it.
FURTHER READING from America Amplified: Tips from Our Stations: Listening Sessions 2.0