The first interview I ever did, on TV, was a disaster. At the time, editors of various Nation magazines were expected to discuss the stories they would feature in the publications the following day on NTV, a sister company of the Daily Nation.
Being World Cancer Day the following day, the main feature on the magazine I was editing at the time had a comprehensive story on breast cancer, one of the most common cancers in the world.
The presenter who was to interview me had given me questions that he would ask beforehand, and this being my maiden TV interview, I had prepared adequately, so adequately in fact, I would have qualified to become an oncologist — Dr Njung’e, expert on breast cancer.
The interview was to take place at 8am, and being a stickler for time, I was already in the office by 7am.
I was nervous, this being my first time in front of the camera, and the fact that the interview was live, therefore what you would see and hear is what you would get, made it worse, but I was confident in the fact that the exam had been leaked to me the day before and I had crammed all the answers.
At quarter to 8am, I headed upstairs to the studio. Surely it wouldn’t be that hard, I told myself, all I had to do was stay calm and recite the scripted answers. And then I got into the studio and was hit by a blinding hot blast of studio lights that made me start sweating like a pig almost immediately, disorienting me momentarily.
At that moment, I wondered how TV presenters manage to look so poised and glamorous on our screens. Thankfully, I managed to recover quickly, and the interview got underway.
But I managed to wing it, and wonder of wonders, I managed not to sound like a total imbecile.
But that was then, were I to be called for a TV interview today, the experience would be much easier, this is because today’s journalist is expected to be all rounded, to be conversant and skilled in multiple areas of journalism – one cannot afford to be competent in just one area, for instance, if you report for print, you must also be capable of reporting for TV and vice versa, and also be able to report for online as well.
A journalist with just one skill is a liability to the employer.[email protected]
