Terry Gross, the venerated host of NPR’s “Fresh Air,” recently gave an interview to The NYT about her 40 years of hosting the beloved public radio show. In it, she discusses the art of getting her subjects to open up. While most of us aren’t professional interviewers, she gives some good general advice on how to get people to be open and honest when talking—helpful tips we can all use in our daily lives.
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Gross makes a conscious effort to not talk about herself much and keep the attention on the interviewee:
Early in her career, she realized that remaining somewhat unknown allows ‘‘radio listeners to do what they like to do, which is to create you.’’ She added, ‘‘Whatever you need me to be, I’ll be that.’’
Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, who has been one of the most frequent guests on “Fresh Air,” said he wished to be interviewed by Gross years before it first happened, and he explains why he believes she is such an effective interviewer:
‘‘Having the conversation’’ — that’s what’s compelling about the wish. It’s a wish not for recognition but for an experience. It’s a wish for Gross to locate your genius, even if that genius has not yet been expressed. It’s a wish to be seen as in a wish to be understood.”
Gross creates a safe place for her interviewee, and in return, her guests oftentimes reveal things to her that they’ve never told anyone else:
Gross’s interviews have often been compared to therapy. That’s in part because of her seemingly neutral stance, but also because of the feeling of safety she gives her interviewees. Once in a while, a guest confesses to Gross that he’s confiding something for the very first time. ‘‘I don’t know that I’ve said that to anyone,’’ the ‘‘Project Runway’’ host Tim Gunn told Gross in 2014, of spending time in a psychiatric hospital as an adolescent. Gross’s response was as affecting as Gunn’s story. She handles confessions quietly, acknowledging the weight of what’s been said without drawing undue attention to it.
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After an intense interview with Hillary Clinton, who misinterpreted one of Gross’ questions and became defensive, Gross and her producers decided against editing out the awkward exchange:
When the interview ended, Gross and her producers asked themselves, ‘‘Are we going to keep that in the edit?’’ Yes, they decided: ‘‘Maybe there’s not a really satisfactory, conclusive answer,’’ but ‘‘it felt like a real moment.’’ Gross went on: ‘‘Even if the real moment isn’t somebody being really honest and forthcoming and introspective, a real moment of friction, a real moment of tension, is still a real moment.’’
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Curated article from:
NY Times
