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Practical Exercise: Interviewing Children 1

Here are two ways of testing interviewing skills – one ‘academic’, the other in the form of a role-play which can be done ‘in class’. MediaWise has used these scenarios successfully on many occasions, but tutors may prefer to devise their own. Brief 1

Cross-border trafficking in girls and women for sex is a big, breaking story in your region. The government has just launched a campaign in partnership with local non-governmental organisation (NGO) to crack down on the traffickers. You have asked an NGO to find you a girl to interview, and they have produced a 13-year-old girl who was abducted two years' ago and forced to become a prostitute in another country. She has recently been freed from a foreign brothel into the care of the NGO, which is now trying to contact her parents. You will have less than an hour to talk to her.

(One complication: social workers say her parents may have sold her into prostitution, but she doesn't know that. Going home may not, in fact, be the solution to her problems.)

Plan your interview, answering the following questions:

Who would be the journalist best suited to cover this story?
Where is the best place to hold the interview?
Should other adults be present? If so, who?
What key questions do you want answered in the short time available?
How will you question the child without upsetting her?
What images will you use to illustrate the story?
What ethical/child rights issues does this story raise?

ROLE PLAY VERSION Select one student to be the interviewer and another to be the girl (another could play the role of care worker). All participants should be given the brief but the ‘girl’ must NOT be told the additional complication about her parents. She should try to behave ‘in character’, and may be told to persistently demand that the journalist help her get back to her family - but do NOT warn the ‘journalist’ that this may happen. Play out the scene from the moment the journalist arrives. After the interview (allow 30 minutes maximum) ask the witnesses to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of the interview, and what lessons it has taught them.
Brief 2

Children 'in care' in a local children's home have taken over the home in protest at conditions there, and barricaded themselves in. They also accuse staff of ill-treating them. They call your newsroom and ask you to send a journalist over, because they want to tell their story.

[Additional complication: You also get a call from the director of social services, which is responsible for the home. He warns you that the law says journalists must not interview under-18s in care without the permission of their parents or guardians. As their legal guardian he forbids you to talk to them.]

Plan your interview, answering the following questions:

How do you balance the rights of children against the rights of adults in this case?
Under international law (the UNCRC), children have the right to speak and have their opinions taken seriously. Does this law over-ride national law?
If you decide to interview the children, where will you do this? Going into the home unofficially could lead to a charge of trespassing.
What key questions will you ask?
Do you give social services the right of reply?
What other ethical/child rights issues does this story raise?
What images will you use to illustrate the story?

ROLE PLAY VERSION Select one student to be the aggressive leader of the young people and another to be the interviewer (another could play a staff member at the home or another of the rebels). All participants should be given the initial brief but the ‘child’ must NOT be told the additional complication about the ban. S/he should try to behave ‘in character’, and may be told to exhibit signs of severe behavioural problems - but do NOT warn the ‘journalist’ that this may happen.

Play out the scene from the moments before the journalist arrives.

After the interview (allow 30 minutes maximum) ask the witnesses to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of the interview, and what lessons it has taught them.

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