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.