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:



 

Softball Questions are Better

This strikes me as intelligent analysis

Why, This Little Robot Would Make a Darn Good Reporter

ASIMO is an advanced humanoid robot developed by Honda. Shown here at Expo 2005. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 From this story in the Economist

Takayuki Kanda of the ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories in Kyoto says that collaborative, humanoid robots should generally be no larger than a six-year-old, a size most adults reckon they could overpower if necessary.
....It turns out, for example, that people are more trusting of robots that use metaphors rather than abstract language, says Bilge Mutlu....He has found that robots are more persuasive when they refer to the opinions of humans and limit pauses to about a third of a second to avoid appearing confused. Robots’ gazes must also be carefully programmed lest a stare make someone uncomfortable.
....When a person enters a room, robots inside should pause for a moment and acknowledge the newcomer, a sign of deference that puts people at ease....It is vital that a robot of this sort is not perceived as hostile, but as having its owner’s best interests at heart....One way to do this is to give robots a defining human trait—the ability to make mistakes. Maha Salem, a researcher under Dr Dautenhahn, programmed a humanoid Asimo robot, made by Honda, to make occasional harmless mistakes such as pointing to one drawer while talking about another. When it comes to household robots, test subjects prefer those that err over infallible ones, Dr Salem says.

Related articles

• Robots Will Win Our Hearts Before They Destroy Us All
• Humans tend to trust robots that look human

Our first essay concerns the ethics of interviewing. Anything questionable about his persistence?