WSJ contributor visits campus

By Maggie Hroncich Editor-In-Chief

The best interviews often are conversations rather than interrogations, said journalist Tunku Varadarajan at a forum on Feb. 2.

“It’s not really an art, nor is it a science,” Varadarajan said of interviewing. “It’s just a method.”

Varadarajan, a contributor to the Wall Street Journal and its former op-ed editor, was born in India and is a naturalized British citizen who now lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. As the op-ed editor for the Journal from 2002-2007, he introduced the “Weekend Interview” feature to the editorial page.

“A staffer from the Journal would sit down with somebody who was in the news, or we thought ought to be in the news, and talk to them at length and distill the conversation into a sort of prose essay based on the words that this person uttered in the course of this conversation,” Varadarajan said.

During the forum on campus–“The Art of the Interview,” sponsored by the Dow Jour- nalism Program–Varadarajan said he tries to understand and learn from interviewees.

“Find someone worth talking to, someone of elevated ideas, status, importance, and get as much as we could out of them to make their ideas accessible to the reader,” Varadarajan said.

The weekend interviews in the Journal, he said, “were friendly and continue to be friendly in nature.”

Varadarajan’s interview subjects have included economist Milton Friedman, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, and author Laurent de Brunhoff, who is known for continuing his father’s “Babar the Elephant” children’s book series.

“The way to approach an interview is to come prepared,” Varadarajan told students. “I know that this sounds like a kind of truism, but you mustn’t go to an interview with somebody without having done your homework. That doesn’t just mean googling the person or reading their Wikipedia. It means if the person has written books, read those books, if that person has made movies, watch some of those movies, if that person has made music, listen to some of their music.”

According to Varadarajan, the goal of interviews is often to be as conversational as possible.

“The aim is to keep the interview as organic as possible, to turn it from a formal inquiry into an informal conversation,” Varadarajan said. “It’s tough in the space of an hour, but you’ve got to win somebody’s trust.”

Varadarajan said interviewers should keep conversations organic rather than attempting to follow a script.

“If you ask a question, and the answer takes you in a particular direction, let your next question follow on from that direction,” he said. “Don’t cut off the conversation, turn to your notes and say ‘OK, here’s my next question.’”

Varadarajan said aspiring journalists should pick who they interview wisely.

“A lot of people are in the news, but they wouldn’t necessarily make good interviews,” Varadarajan said. “You need to find somebody who’s articulate, who has a bit of a backstory, who might be willing to be voluble and expansive for you.”

Freshman Mattie Grace Watson said she is excited to use the skills she learned from Varadarajan in the future.

“The talk today was very informational. We learned so much about developing a relationship with your interviewee and having a more organic interview that way,” Watson said. “I look forward to implementing these new strategies in the future.”

Professor of History Wilfred McClay, who attended Varadarajan’s forum, said he appreciates Varadarajan’s unique approach to interviewing.

“I’ve long admired Tunku Varadarajan’s work, especially his iconic ‘Weekend Interview’ feature at the Wall Street Journal,” McClay said. “His gentle and humane approach to interviewing is refreshingly different from the reigning canons of ‘gotcha’ journalism. He seeks not to pin down his interviewees but rather to understand them as they understand themselves, and convey that understanding in a sympathetic way.”