News hour with funk presenter Eva Schulz

News hour with radio presenter Eva Schulz on 21.03.2023
Our class 9b once again took the opportunity to participate in a news hour live via Zoom as part of reporter4you. We wanted to ask Eva Schulz how to conduct a good interview and learn how to elicit something from Chancellor Olaf Schulz and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock that they didn't want to say. Eva loved reading and writing stories at school. She quickly discovered that you can also write down stories that are not made up. Eva was active in the school newspaper, wrote articles for the local paper and took advantage of her local radio station.

Before a planned interview, the first thing to do is thorough research. In a dossier (10-14 pages), she collects all the information, e.g. from the politicians' latest speeches, talk show appearances, newspaper articles and social media. Then she talks for about an hour with a member of the editorial staff: What new do we want to find out about this person? What drives them? They mark and sort what is important to them. Then they formulate questions and put them in order - easy questions first. An hour of interviewing quickly takes several days of preparation. Respect for the interview partner, honest interest and listening are essential for success. We asked her how she kept everything. She immediately replied that it wasn't too much of a challenge, since she had dealt with the person so extensively.
Of course, we also found out about Eva on the Internet in advance.

Then we wanted to know how she would handle it if the interview went in a different direction. Eva said that in this case it would be good if she left the plan and went along with the person. Thus it becomes exciting, but also stressful. Financing journalism is becoming more and more difficult, she said. Print media, especially local newspapers, are strongly affected by this. It is necessary to finance local journalism as well. Good information about one's own region is important. If this is lacking, it is dangerous for democracy. Artificial intelligence (e.g. ChatGPT) is super-exciting for journalists, since no fixed salary has to be paid and they do not get "sick":

- Sports- goals and facts - AI can generate articles
- news read out by computer avatar

Criticism is indispensable for Eva, as it can only make her better. Critical voices are usually loud and in the majority. People should also praise more and name positive things instead of just scolding. The increasing distrust of journalists can only be countered by high standards and balanced reporting, she says. Eva wants young people to take a greater interest in politics. To this end, she makes greater use of social media and has already shot many a crazy video (e.g. in a bikini).
For Eva, it's the right profession: she's curious, wants to understand the world better and meets great people.