Real Communication An Introduction

Appendix A   Competent Interviewing^527

The Colbert Report

Back at the beginning of this Appendix, we talked about Comedy

Central’s The Colbert Report, whose satirical “Better Know a

District” interviews turn politicians into punchlines. Let’s exam-

ine the nature of those interviews in the context of what we’ve

learned throughout this Appendix.

c Like all interviews, Colbert’s interviews are planned and dyadic, but the proc-

ess of editing them down to just a few minutes makes them less interactive

than a real-time interview. Comments and reaction shots are taken out of

context, and during editing, Colbert is able to integrate alternative footage

that was not part of the actual interview. This gives him an unusual amount

of control at the expense of the interviewee.

c The format and structure of the interview are also clear to both parties: Col-

bert’s guests are told in advance that he will remain in character and they are

asked to play straight against his egomaniacal and satirical alter ego. Partici-

pants are well aware that their comments can and will be heavily edited and

that much of what they say will be taken out of context.

c There’s risk in being the butt of a joke, for sure, but in this case, there’s

also the potential for reward. Politicians might appear on the show to gain

exposure for their districts as well as for themselves with Colbert’s young,

politically active audience. In fact, some research suggests that there is actu-

ally a “Colbert Bump”—the host’s term for a brief increase in support for

politicians following an appearance on Colbert’s show (Thompson, 2008).

Bk

BACK TO

Activities

1. LaunchPad for Real Communication offers key term videos and encourages self-
   assessment through adaptive quizzing. Go to bedfordstmartins.com/realcomm
   to get access to:

LearningCurve Adaptive Quizzes.

A

1L hPdfRlC i

THINGS TO TRY

2. Observe a press conference on television. Who is being interviewed? Who is
   conducting the interview? What is the goal of the press conference? How is
   control distributed? List five questions that are asked, and label them according
   to the types listed in this chapter (open, closed, bipolar, primary, and second-
   ary). Did the questioning involve a particular sequence (funnel, inverted funnel,
   or tunnel)? What did you learn about this interview format by answering these
   questions?

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