That’s a good question
I listen to a lot of interviews on podcasts and radio. In recent years, I often hear interview subjects begin their answers by telling the journalist: “That’s a good question!” I’ve been on the receiving end of the compliment. It annoys me.
The comment usually means the person feels comfortable about a question they were half-expecting, and are equipped with a prepped answer. That’s a problem. The journalist apparently failed to ask a probing question that might have caught the person off-guard and knocked them off their talking points. The subject often launches into a rehearsed mini-speech, repeating information other journalists have already covered. The interview has now devolved into noisy recycling.
The comment seems intended to curry favour with journalists, who are human after all and as susceptible to flattery as anyone. Connecting this way with an interviewer can tilt the power balance. Who is to judge what is and isn’t a good question? Certainly not the person fielding the questions, otherwise they’d be vetting them in advance. Yet the listener hears the comment as if the subject were running the show.
Interviews on podcasts and radio are already fraught, because they’re tainted with show business. Both sides know they’re performing for an audience. They understand the pitfalls of awkward silences, uncivil exchanges or verbal clashes that will exceed time slots. Highly structured segments are usually sandwiched between civil greetings and farewells. These public-facing sessions can be much different from print- or online-only interviews, which lack an audience. There, the focus is on extracting information, awkwardly or painfully if need be, including periods of stressful silence. There’s no time allocation to serve broadcast programming. Journalists can take the time they need, even call back later to clarify or extract more information. They’re free to be distressingly aggressive. And when the interviewee says to them “That’s a good question!,” they’re better able to pivot or simply shut down the canned responses.
Both interview types have value. Radio and podcasts are especially good conduits for human voices that get lost in print reporting. They also let us multi-task while learning about the world. And broadcast interviews can be as hard-hitting as in any other medium, generating exclusive news. But I still cringe when I hear “That’s a good question!” and I think: the party’s over.
Jan. 14, 2022
