Jiu Jitsu as an Interviewing Technique

Yesterday Ali described how she would react to an interview subject who tried to put her off balance by telling an objectionable joke. Her response: "Is that on the record?" turning the "force" of the joke against him.  That is a kind of verbal jiu jitsu, which is described as:

a method developed in Japan of defending oneself without the use of weapons by using the strength and weight of an adversary to disable him.




There is a downside to this and that might occur if the subject pushes back, saying something like, "So are you some kind of social justice warrior?" And then you, the interviewer, push back, and on it goes. Such an interchange might produce a lively story, or it might make the story too much about you, or it might result in you never getting the information you came to get.

And what if you are attempting to establish an ongoing relationship with a source?

Here's a comment from Isabel Wilkerson, a journalist I much admire.

And look at this: