John Launer: Poor political interviewing—could consultation skills help?

Why is political interviewing in the UK generally so poor? I recently listened to an extended interview with a major politician where the interviewer’s repertoire seemed to consist of closed or leading questions, aggressive interruptions, or statements beginning, “You presumably intended,” “Other people have criticised you,” and so on.The interviewer broke just about every rule that medical educators teach when trying to inculcate skills for conversations with patients. Indeed, I could imagine using that interview as a training exercise to identify every fault it’s possible to make when trying to get people to open up and talk about themselves. I realise that journalists are expected to challenge politicians on behalf of the public, but there’s a difference between probing intelligently and having a bad tempered argument or performing a slapstick routine.Things can be even worse when the interviewer is sympathetic to the politician rather than hostile: the style seems to…
Read Original Article: John Launer: Poor political interviewing—could consultation skills help? »