Students are quicker to say ‘no’ to interview requests from reporters now
I joined The Collegian staff in the fall of 2021. Journalism was one of my only in-person classes. My first semester on the Delta campus was in Fall 2019.
Little did I know, this would be my only full-semester, in person class in the last two years. The differences between that first fall semester of college and the first fall semester of journalism were clear. Things were much more tense on campus.
Hanging out at Empresso or T4 after class, studying in the library, Danner Hall or Locke Lounge, and eating from the food trucks were things of the past. The campus was desolate, spare for a few Middle College High School students milling about, quietly studying six feet apart and keeping to themselves.
Nothing like the lively scene before.
One has to ask — has the Covid-19 pandemic permanently altered the way we interact with people? If you’re a newspaper reporter, the answer is yes.
For a while, the selection of people we could physically interview on campus was non-existent due to the campus shut down.
Of course, there have always been people who are hesitant to talk about their opinions publicly and would rather remain anonymous, which is not allowed in newspaper reporting, but it seems like the pandemic has increased the number of people who feel this way.
I originally pitched this story as an opinion piece on “why people don’t want to do interviews for the newspaper“ because it was something I was running into so frequently, but of course, the main issue with a topic like this, is how can people who don’t want to be interviewed be interviewed? It’s a paradox.
It should be noted it’s not only me running into the issue of people not wanting to be interviewed, but many on the newspaper staff. This conundrum moves into the digital space as well. With people no longer connected to campus-based phone extensions, reporters have to send emails in hopes we get responses by deadline.
Some people undoubtedly don’t care or have the time to do interviews, but perhaps people are hesitant to share their opinions since we are in such a divided time as a nation. From vaccines and masks to healthcare and education, people have strong feelings on everything.
Or perhaps people are more hesitant to trust reporters after having a previous president who vilified the press and said the media is “scum” and “horrible” and implied they should be killed, such as former President Donald J. Trump once noted.
Nevertheless, I try to be persistent in getting quotes, and after rejection many times from people who clearly didn’t want to be interviewed, I realized the second-best course of action was to ask people who did want to be interviewed why they said yes to an interview in the first place, and why they would be hesitant to accept an interview.
“I said yes to an interview because I want to help you out,” said student Jamie Phan. “I understand the need to try to complete assignments before a deadline, and it’s always interesting hearing about what The Collegian wants to cover, so I wanted to be interviewed by you today.”
Other students shared similar sentiments of wanting to help.
“You said you needed help,” said student Aja Ancheta. “I also have free time right now… and the questions were interesting to answer.”
Shout out to Phan and Ancheta who are absolute strangers I randomly sat next to and accosted while they were studying, and yet still they graciously agreed to answer some questions. I was so desperate for interviews that I ended up interviewing them both for another story as well.
Interviewing is at the core of what we do for writing stories.
Back in the day, people were proud of being in the newspaper. They would save clippings with their names in them and show people excitedly that they were in the paper.
What changed? Even if the newspaper is “dead,” interviews still need to be done either for TV or social media. Would people be more willing to do an interview if it was for TV or social media? What’s the difference between a newspaper quote and posting a comment on a video online? If the issue is anonymity, then do such people never comment or like anything on social media ever, out of fear of putting their opinions out there?
If we want any chance at going back to normality, we need to have these conversations and be brave enough to do so.