In our endeavours to be inclusive, we should try not to alienate both listeners and guests with our questions.

Always use open questions ?

eg. How does your organisation propose to appeal this
decision ?

Avoid confrontational questions or an aggressive interviewing style.

In the main, we are helping the community impart information to the listener.

There will be some interviews where you may need to put difficult questions to interviewees, but always be polite and courteous, There is a big difference between being assertive and aggressive, and the listener can be swayed by your technique. Our job is to ensure the listener gets a fair and balanced view.

The listener doesn't need to know that your research came mainly via a faxed or e-mailed press release.

Avoid reading the press release verbatim. Summarise it, and use it only as a brief introduction to your guest.