NPR Radio Interview Analysis

The NPR radio program that I listened to was from Fresh Air and was titled “Jesus and the Hidden Contradictions of the Gospels”. This interview featured Bart Ehrman who wrote a book about how the bible contradicts itself by saying different things about Jesus in different parts of the bible. The interviewer seemed to know what the book was about before the interview began. She also knew some background information about the author. The interviewer asked questions that brought out information that was in the author’s book. The interviewer didn’t seem to build up to any questions, but would follow up each question with another question asking the author to clarify what he meant. The interviewer didn’t seem to have much of a strategy except to let the author talk for most of the interview. The author talked for five minutes straight in some parts of the interview. If the author gave an evasive answer the interviewer would ask him to clarify his answer better. The relationship between the interviewer and the author seemed to be professional and it seemed the interviewer was asking questions that was promoting the author’s book. From this interview I learned that a good interview has questions that allow the interviewee to say a lot. A good interview also has questions that are asked to clarify evasive answers. A good interview also has questions that do not offend the interviewee and make the interviewee feel important and that the interviewer generally cares about what he or she has to say.

Word of the Week #7

1. Mawkish
2. By the end of the 19th century, the sensational and mawkish tales of misfortune that were a hallmark of yellow journalism were yielding to the refined sensibilities of those such as Adolph Ochs, owner of the New York Times. Source: Mass Media Textbook
3. adjective: Characterized by sickly sentimentality; weakly emotional; maudlin
4. His mawkish news story poorly stated both sides of the issue and was very biased.

Mystery Character

My mystery character happens to be a man. This man moves fast and talks with a big ego with a deep and loud voice. He wears shorts that look like speedos, but are slightly different. His signature gesture is a raised eyebrow. He uses the word Jabroni a lot and asks if you can smell what he is cooking. He is very tan and has short hair on the side of his head and spiked hair on the top.

Word of the Week #6

1. Apocryphal
2. Apocryphal or not, the era of film had begun, and this new medium's impact on behavior seemed ripe for research. Source: Reel to Reel: Psychology Goes to teh Movies by Eric Jaffe from Mass Media textbook.
3. adjective: of doubtful authorship or authenticity.
4. The story of his apocryphal movie was clearly stolen from a box office hit that was released three months ago.

Word of the Week #5

1. Visceral
2. Page-one placement can spark visceral reactions not only from journalists but also from readers. Source: A Fading Taboo by Donna Shaw from Mass Communications textbook.
3. adjective: characterized by or proceeding from instinct rather than intellect
4. After getting hit by my brother I made a visceral action by hitting him back even harder than he hit me.