Blog: How to interview as an ally
Many content creators will find themselves interviewing people from time to time. At Tremula Network, one of our biggest considerations when making our podcasts is interviewing guests that represent everyone.
But a representative guestlist can become tokenistic if you don’t approach the interviews in an authentic way. I recently ran a session for our Outdoors Podcast Club on interviewing as an ally, with help from members of the All The Elements community. The session was so popular, I wanted to share some of the main takeaways to make sure everyone can make their interviews a safe and comfortable experience!
Step One: Before the Interview
Educate Yourself
Deciding to be an ally is great, but you don't want to start your education with your interview. Try and get the basics down before you ask your guests to speak to you. “Think about what you need to educate yourself on - a lot of the ally's work is to educate themselves.” says Mara.
Unfortunately, some All The Elements members said they’ve had interviewers make basic mistakes, or even show ignorance. “The questions I got were so inappropriate based on race" said Ani Barber, who campaigns for Disability inclusion and awareness outdoors. Meanwhile, adventure filmmaker and trans activist Frit Tam said "it's not right for someone to interview me about trans experiences and say that trans people are born male/female then transition to female/male, respectively. This is true for some trans people, but not most, and certainly not me."
"It's not right for someone to interview me about trans experiences and say that trans people are born male/female then transition to female/male, respectively.” Trans activist and filmmaker Frit Tam speaks on a panel for the film They/Them. Photo credit: Frankie Dewar.
When working across diversity areas, there are always going to be gaps in our knowledge, but here are a few aspects to consider:
Be aware of our Christian-centric society. Don't ask guests to record on their religious holidays, and be mindful of when you are posting episodes.
Consider days and months of remembrance and significance. For example, Transgender Day of Remembrance (for people that have been killed due to transphobia) can be a difficult day for the community, and the anniversary of the murder of George Floyd can be hard for many Black people around the world.
At least 15% of the UK have a disability, but not everyone will disclose this openly. Make sure you are asking everyone if they have any requirements to make the interview accessible and comfortable.
And remember, people may advocate for one area of diversity, but they still have other aspects of their identity. Try to approach all interviews from an intersectional perspective - You can read more about what intersectionality is here.
Reach out respectfully
When asking someone to speak to you, make sure you respect your potential guest in the way you reach out. Here are my quick tips:
Remember that this may be work for them. Some advocates make a living through their work, and many will have boundaries around their time.
Check their preferred first point of contact. Many people have something on their website or social profiles telling you the best way to contact them. Use this!
Introduce yourself. Whether you’re working for the BBC or on your passion project, let them know a little bit about you as a person.
What EXACTLY are you asking for? Give a rough idea of what they are getting into, such as how much time it will take, how the interview will be conducted and what you might want to talk about.
Offer compensation. It has not been standard editorial practice to offer interviewees money, but if we consider that advocacy might be a part of their income or may be helping to create content you earn money from, is it still fair to ask them to do it for free?
OR be transparent if you can’t. For small projects it’s often not feasible to offer money, so explain the situation, and consider if there is anything you can offer in lieu such as membership to a club, a nice photograph they can use, or even a bit of equipment you no longer need.
Be flexible. Whether it’s changing your schedule, doing a spoken interview rather than a written one or doing 30 minutes instead of an hour, make it easier for them if you can.
And of course, don’t be offended if they refuse!
Do your research
Once your guest has agreed to an interview it’s time to prepare. There was one note that came up more than any other when it came to preparing for the interview. "Research, research, research” says Mara. “Show you've done your research in the questions posed."
Here are a few things to help research your guest:
→ Listen to, watch and read other interviews
→ Check their social media
→ How do they refer to themselves?
→ What pronouns and identifiers do they use?
→ What is their current project?
→ What have they spoken about before?
→ What haven’t they spoken about before?
Preparing properly takes time, but your guest and audience will be left with an interview that matters. Frit said "The best interviewer I've ever had clearly researched about me and what I'd achieved, which made me feel valued and therefore more forthcoming with my answers…"
Write considered questions
Once you’ve done your research, you’ll be in a great place to start writing your questions. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
→ Do NOT copy-and-paste from another person with the same identity
→ Ask different questions to other interviewers
→ Shape your questioning to lead into the difficult topics after warming up
→ Be mindful of trauma and aggressions (both micro and macro)
→ Don’t JUST talk about advocacy/identity!
This last point was echoed by everyone, and some of people’s favourite interviews were the ones where they didn’t talk about advocacy or identity at all…
Step Two: Be the BEST interview
“Actively listen and don't interrupt. You might get excited but your guest should be the main speaker.” Frankie Dewar is holding a microphone and speaking to Francesca Turauskis who is listening intently. Photo credit All The Elements at The Outdoor Connection
You’ve done the preparations, but here are some things you can do for the interview itself to make sure you all feel comfortable:
Send the questions beforehand, and consider doing a pre-interview chat (especially if the interview will be about complicated subjects). This helps you both feel comfortable with each other by the interview.
Check your research is correct and ask the person’s language preferences. And don’t get their name wrong…
Refer to their other conversations and signpost to their work. It’s really appreciated when interviewers show enthusiasm for your projects!
Actively listen and don't interrupt. You might get excited but your guest should be the main speaker.
Don’t over-empathise. Adya said that “Something that allies do, with really good intentions, is try to find experiences in their own life that align with the interviewee as a bonding opportunity. This is not always appropriate, for example - likening a short term injury or illness with chronic illness/disability, likening other forms of discrimination with racism for example.”
And remember - you might get it wrong! Conversations around advocacy, justice and injustice are very personal, and changing all the time. Don’t get defensive if you do make a mistake, but take time to apologise and reflect later.
Step three: After the interview
Your work as an ally doesn’t end at the interview! There are a lot of things you can do post-interview to keep supporting your guest and their work.
Make sure your sound edit/write-up/social images are good. You’ve had a great conversation and you want to show it off and make sure people are interested in it!
Check facts and third-party references. Not only is this important so neither of you get into trouble for inaccuracies, but if you had a conversation that discussed third parties, make sure to remove anything personal about people who haven’t given their permission to be interviewed.
Do pick-ups if needed. When you’re editing there may be things you want to clarify or expand on, and make sure you give yourself enough time for corrections
Share the finished interview before you publish. Your guest came to you to talk about their story or work, so make sure they are happy you’ve represented them well
Create trigger warnings for your audience. Remember, you want to save them from unnecessary hurt as well as your guest.
Monitor the comments on socials
Say thank you! Let them know how much the interview meant to you, and pass on any good comments :D
A last note on interviewing advocates
I want to leave you with one last thing: consider if an interview with you is the best way to share some aspects of their story. I say this with a pinch of salt because I know that there will be a few people that, like myself, have that negative voice in their head in terms of stepping into activist spaces. But quite a lot of advocates have told their story a lot. Do you need them to repeat themselves?
“Organise an “affinity interview” by asking someone with more connection to the subject to do the interview for you.” Soraya Abdel-Hadi speaks to Sabrina Pace-Humphreys at the Kendal Literature Festival.
There are a couple of ways that I think you can still do something to share their work, even if it is not through an interview with you:
Do an interview swap. If you’ve already found an interview you enjoyed, ask if you can share that on your platform through something like an episode swap, a re-post or by quoting the interview.
Organise what I like to call an “affinity interview”. This is a way to create a very authentic conversation by asking someone with more connection to the subject to do the interview for you. An example is one of the episodes that we did with On The Outside, where Oge and I spoke to Omie Dale about Swim Unity.
If you’re already thinking about reaching out to guests across all diversity areas, don’t forget to check out the All The Elements Directory, which has more that 230 different entries of affiliate groups and organisations, and is loosely categorised by diversity focus and sport
If you want to watch the full ‘Interview as an ALLY’ event, get in touch with Francesca or you can sign-up to the Outdoors Podcast Club to watch all their previous events.
