Combative Interview
This is an aggressive style interview towards the interviewee;
the interviewer is determined to find out all the information which they want
for the interview. They can sometimes turn into an argument. For example;
Nigel
Farage and Jeremy Paxman:
This interview is about Nigel Farage and his policies with
UKIP, who appeared on television show, ‘Newsnight’ for a combative interview. The
host, Jeremy Paxman is trying to find out as much as possible and challenge
Nigel Farage’s views and UKIP. Jeremy Paxman asks a wide variety of questions
surrounding UKIP from immigration to homosexuality; mostly all of the questions
asked are direct open questions.
Jeremy opens the interview by introducing Nigel Farage and
instantly begins asking a direct question at 3 seconds in, this shows from the
very beginning of the interview that its going to be aggressive and a combative
interview.
“Now, your slogan ‘We want our country back.’ Back from who?”
to which Nigel replies with “it’s been given away…” and goes on to talk in
depth about what their slogan is about, however doesn’t really answer the
question directly or give a direct answer.
Straight after this question at 25 seconds in, Jeremy asks a very suggestive question, already suggesting that Nigel Farage indeed already has a problem with Romanians, “What’s
your problem with Romanians?” to which Nigel Farage seems to take some offence
and answers “I have no problem with Romanians; I have a big problem with Romania.”
Again this is a clear example of a combative interview as he directly corrects
Jeremy and goes on to explain himself in detail, basically avoiding the
original question and never answers the original question directly.
Jeremy Paxman is very straight forward throughout the
interview and includes his own opinion of the subject being talked about. This
is another clear indication this interview is combative and aggressive, for
example at 7:55 he interrupts Nigel Farage and says: “This is just a lot of
airy fairy eye catching nonsense.” This is clearly intended to be offensive to
Nigel Farage.
There is active listening throughout the interview, which we
can see through Jeremy’s body language, for example at 6:53, he leans forward
when Nigel is speaking and also replies to what Nigel Farage says; “Yes,
exactly.” Then interrupts Nigel by saying, “how do you propose to pay for all
this?” and Nigel tells him to “Hang on” and carries on talking about his
original point.
The interview finishes by Jeremy asking “So is your health
okay?” to which Nigel replies “Yes, my health is fine” while smiling. Jeremy
then says “Nigel Farage, thank you” and that is the interview over. The
interview finishes on a much lighter note compared to the rest of the
interview, as he asks a very casual, easy question which is completely opposite
to the entirety of the interview. This shows the interview ending on a much
lighter, happier light. So they end on a much more positive note.