If I were to become a journalist, how important is the art&ability to ask pointed Questions of people w/power?

Question

If I were to become a journalist, how important is the art&ability to ask pointed Questions of people w/power?

Answer 1

from experience, it's quite important....the trick is in handling the "run around" 1/2 hr. answers you get which have NOTHING to do with the question but are handled in such a way that you won't notice it till later!!lol.....good luck!

Answer 2

Frankly, it doesn't come up that much. A very small percentage of interviews are like that.

Now -- it's far more important to be able to relate to ordinary people, who of course aren't so ordinary. Most newsmakers are pretty ordinary -- just plain folks -- with the exception of the really big shots. There's a skill to making people comfortable enough to tell you things.