“But what is it? Why is he doing that? How does he know?” Multiply those questions by ten, et voilà, that’s how I watched television as a child. An awful spectacle, because of course, my family had missed half the movie thanks to my barrage of questions. And yet, that curiosity is the foundation of my career as a journalist. Add being a good listener and a creative spirit to the mix and you understand why I love this job so much. Really wanting to know what’s what is the basis of our work. You can get a fair way by feigning an interest in scientific research, someone’s life or policy and simply tick off your list of questions, but a conversation will always lead to a better article if you are genuine and curious. There is a reason we teach the students who come to us for a freelance position, or to follow a writing workshop, how to be well prepared, to think of specific questions – what, who, why and how – and then, to listen closely to the other person and ask follow-up questions, even if it gets hard, or the interviewee gets sad or angry.
Asking questions is something you can learn, author Elke Wiss wrote in her book Socrates on Sneakers, a philosophical guide to asking good questions. “A question is a tool. It is a way to get into the mind of another person.” The trap we are all falling into as a society is that we don’t ask questions to clarify or connect things. Usually, we share our opinion, interrupt each other with well-meaning advice, talk about our own feelings and needs. Take all that shouting on social media – it’s mostly assumptions about other people.
Last week, we received an email. A member of staff was critical about our reporting on questions we asked around the faculties in response to the new mobility policy. He was making a significant number of assumptions about our journalistic process and showed a rather uncompromising attitude. But what had made him so irritated? In hindsight, I would have liked to have asked him that question (not by email, that’s the wrong approach for that). It’s a confrontational question – after all, it is about him. Asking questions is a leap of faith, writes Wiss. You formulate a question, let it go and you wait. Exciting? Sometimes. But by not asking questions, you definitely lose out on any chance of understanding.
The editor-in-chief gives a look behind the scenes at the editorial office.