Journalistic Interview Techniques For Media Professionals Training

Learning Outcomes

• Apply structured interview preparation techniques, including research on interviewees and topics.
• Demonstrate effective questioning strategies, including open-ended, closed, and probing questions.
• Analyze interview responses to adapt questioning in real-time for depth and clarity.
• Evaluate ethical considerations and legal boundaries in journalistic interviews.
• Implement techniques to manage difficult interviewees and unexpected situations during interviews.

Target Audience

Journalists, broadcasters, podcasters, and content creators who conduct interviews as part of their media roles, as well as public relations professionals seeking to enhance their media interview skills.

Prerequisites

None — open enrollment.

Course Outline

Practicals

Overview

Practical sessions provide supervised, hands-on experience in conducting interviews. Learners will practice questioning techniques, manage interviewee dynamics, and produce recorded interviews to demonstrate competence.

Practical Activities

• Practice Interview with Peer Feedback — Learners conduct a 10-minute interview with a peer, focusing on open-ended questions and active listening. Receive immediate feedback from trainer and peers. (4h)
• Handling Difficult Interviewees Role-Play — Simulated scenarios with actors portraying evasive or hostile interviewees. Learners practice de-escalation and probing techniques. (4h)
• Field Interview Simulation — Outdoor or simulated field environment where learners conduct interviews with background noise and distractions. Focus on recording and note-taking. (4h)
• Full Mock Interview and Evaluation — Each learner conducts a complete mock interview (15-20 minutes) with a trained actor. Recorded for self-evaluation and trainer assessment. (4h)

Summatives

Each delegate is assessed continuously throughout the course via daily exercises, scored practical assignments, and a final summative test at the end.

Practical Assignments — 30%

Practical assignments are observed and scored against a rubric during the practical sessions. Each delegate's practical mark is averaged into a single 100% score and contributes 30% to the final total.

Daily Exercises — 20%

Every training day ends with a multiple-choice exercise scored out of 100%. The scores from each daily exercise are averaged across the duration of the course to produce a Daily Average mark, which contributes 20% to the final total.

Final Test — 50%

On the last day a final summative test is written. It is a multiple-choice paper with multiple-answer questions: each question may have more than one correct option, and a single wrong selection on a question marks the entire question wrong — no partial credit. The final test is scored out of 100% and contributes 50% to the overall mark.

Final Total

Component	Out of	Weight
Practical Assignments (rubric-scored)	100%	30%
Daily Average (multiple choice)	100%	20%
Final Test (multi-answer multiple choice)	100%	50%
Final Total	—	100%

All marks are recorded on the AATICD LMS and visible to each learner under their account.

Certificate

How it works

• Certificates are auto-generated on the AATICD LMS as soon as the marks pass the 50% threshold.
• Each certificate is a branded PDF with the delegate's name, the course title, the unit standard ID, NQF level, credits, and the date of issue.
• You can download or print your certificate from your LMS dashboard at any time after issue — there's no reissue fee and no expiry date.
• If you scored under 50% you can sit the final test again at the next scheduled session at no extra cost.

Where to find it

Sign in to the LMS, open your dashboard, and your certificates appear under My Certificates. Each entry has a View / Download button and a print option.

Training Discounts

Group discounts apply automatically — the more delegates you enrol, the greater the saving. Discounts are calculated at 3% per 5 delegates, scaling up to 40% off for 100+ delegates.

Delegates	Discount
5	3% off
10	6% off
15	9% off
20	12% off
25	15% off
30	18% off
50	30% off
75	35% off
100	40% off

3% discount per 5 delegates, up to 40% off for 100+ delegates. Contact us for a custom group quote.