Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Terry Gross and the Art of Opening Up (2015)

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 54 posts

Re: Terry Gross and the Art of Opening Up (2015)

#31

Post by dventimi »

ethbr1 wrote: post #28
dventimi wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't removed their agency. I've only exercised my own. You're free to do the same however you like.

- They like something you don't - They like it because others do - It's thus not worth considering more deeply why they like it Did I map that unfairly?

No, it isn't unfair. It's just not accurate. A more accurate portrait would be:

- People make educated guesses about the internal states-of-mind and emotional states of other people all the time. We do it with friends, lovers, marketplace counter-parties, poker adversaries, etc., and there's nothing inherently wrong about that.

- I have made an educated guess about the internal state-of-mind and emotional states of "Fresh Air" listeners, not about any particular individual but about the ensemble. I could be wrong, of course. That's the nature of guesses, even educated ones.

- Having already considered it with enough depth to satisfy myself, it's not worth it to me to consider it more deeply at this time. Of course, I'm willing to revisit this policy in light of new evidence.

Re: Terry Gross and the Art of Opening Up (2015)

#33

Post by NewsyHacker »

Loughla wrote: post #24
city41 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I know my opinion will be unpopular. Terry's popularity confounds me.

That's interesting. Who would you consider a good interviewer?

For musicians, Rick Beato and Nardwuar the Human Serviette. Nardwuar’s preparatory research is always very deep, and musicians have repeatedly praised him for asking interesting questions outside the repetitive and superficial interviews they normally have to give when promoting a new album or tour. Since Beato made a career on YouTube where he doesn’t have to keep things as accessible to a general public as in legacy media, his interviews can get deeper into technical matters of music-making.

Re: Terry Gross and the Art of Opening Up (2015)

#34

Post by melkor73 »

block_dagger wrote: post #11
chongli wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Look at me, look at me! Oh yeah, you're here, too." I find interviewers like that almost unwatchable. Sorry, I’m here to see the guest, not the interviewer. It’s unbelievably arrogant for an interviewer to behave like that. The best interviewers say almost nothing at all, yet manage to get their guests to really open up and talk about many interesting things. It’s like some kind of superpower, the ability to say jus…

Lex ;)

"What do you think about Vladimir Putin?" -Lex Fridman

Re: Terry Gross and the Art of Opening Up (2015)

#35

Post by mightybyte »

AlbertCory wrote: post #3

I used to think she was the gold standard of interviewing, and I still do, in general. > Barbara Walters was once our national interviewer, in a flashier style defined by a desire for spectacle. Baba Wawa (can't ever not think of her as that, after Gilda Radner) was all "Look at me, look at me! Oh yeah, you're here, too." However, Rick Beato beats Terry out, in the category of certain musicians at least. He's not afr…

One person who stands out in my mind for interviewing skill and quality is Sean Evans on Hot Ones. The whole show is a great combination of excellent background research, interviewer preparation, empathy, and the setting of ultra spicy food that makes the guest very vulnerable. These factors combine unusually well to increase the effectiveness of the whole thing.

Re: Terry Gross and the Art of Opening Up (2015)

#36

Post by adamlgerber »

dventimi wrote: post #6

Pet peeves: - interviewers who ramble on when asking a question - interviewers who rely on declarative sentences (i.e. they don't even ask a question) - interviewers who rely on imperative sentences (e.g. "Talk about the time that such and such happened.") - interviewers who say "Um..." often. Terry Gross commits all of these interviewing mistakes, in my view. She's good at booking guests, but beyond that I'm unimpre…

You might love Conversations with Tyler, the podcast hosted by Tyler Cowen. https://conversationswithtyler.com/

I used to enjoy Terry Gross and many other interviewers, but Tyler Cowen just blows past everyone by getting so much deeper so much faster than anyone else.

You can tell that the interviewers are often relieved to finally get asked real questions. Some people are put off by his style but I find it exhilarating.

Re: Terry Gross and the Art of Opening Up (2015)

#37

Post by goda90 »

dwater wrote: post #15
brandall10 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never listened to Terry Gross... but taking your and parent's comment together, it sounds like she's someone who has researched the guest well and actively directs the interview in a particular direction - ie. tries to craft a compelling narrative.

Unfortunately, no. That’s my pet peeve about Terry Gross, she often gets things wrong and the guest has to correct her. It often sounds like she didn’t prep for the interview at all.

Getting the guest to correct and expound could be an intentional technique to make it so she isn't just reading off a biography to them while they just affirm each statement.

Re: Terry Gross and the Art of Opening Up (2015)

#38

Post by leviathant »

city41 wrote: post #13
dventimi wrote: post #6

Pet peeves: - interviewers who ramble on when asking a question - interviewers who rely on declarative sentences (i.e. they don't even ask a question) - interviewers who rely on imperative sentences (e.g. "Talk about the time that such and such happened.") - interviewers who say "Um..." often. Terry Gross commits all of these interviewing mistakes, in my view. She's good at booking guests, but beyond that I'm unimpre…

Terry Gross is the worst interviewer I've ever heard. She seems to make a lot of the people she interviews uncomfortable, and not in a good way. Trent Reznor in particular seemed especially annoyed.

I was not expecting anyone to bring up the interview with Trent here, but that was kind of a dud to me... But I think maybe that's because I (still) run a NIN fan site. I was hoping to hear something new, but I'm the end, I realized I wasn't the target audience for that interview. Additionally, you can't knock it out of the park with every single interview you do.

It didn't stop me from enjoying her interviews, and even the famously off the rails Gene Simmons interview had me on her side. I'm glad it's not extreme reactions all the time on her show. It's usually good storytelling.

I personally gained a huge amount of respect for radio host interviews when I went on the Kevin and Bean show to talk about Nine Inch Nails. It was a surprise invitation, I figured "why not" but worried a bit that I'd stammer through spouting some dumb fanboy nonsense. But those dudes were like wizards in a way I still struggle to describe. They set me up, very naturally, and somehow extracted good responses out of me. When I hung up, I didn't feel like a socially awkward idiot, but rather felt like I played a part in a performance.

Anyway, I still like Terry Gross, sorry to hear you think she's the worst interviewer you've ever heard.

Re: Terry Gross and the Art of Opening Up (2015)

#39

Post by brandall10 »

goda90 wrote: post #37
dwater wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, no. That’s my pet peeve about Terry Gross, she often gets things wrong and the guest has to correct her. It often sounds like she didn’t prep for the interview at all.

Getting the guest to correct and expound could be an intentional technique to make it so she isn't just reading off a biography to them while they just affirm each statement.

Seems like enough folks here are saying she’s terrible… makes me think her brand of drunken kung-fu might be more accidental than deliberate.

Re: Terry Gross and the Art of Opening Up (2015)

#40

Post by Boogie_Man »

dventimi wrote: post #21
getlawgdon wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're suspcious of the fawning over her? Don't keep me in the dark! What's really going on with how millions of listeners, her colleagues, and NPR have felt about her and her work for decades?

I suspect that Terry Gross, like NPR, is a brand that people wear to advertise "I'm smart." That's what's really going on with what her audience feels about her. That in turn explains what's really going on with what NPR and her colleagues there feel about her.

I've recently listened to several Terry Gross interviews, and the David Bowie interview stands out to me as particularly bad. I think she frequently makes "educated guesses" about how her guests will respond about their thoughts, feelings, and motivations, and will have follow up questions prepared based on these anticipated responses. When she's right, things go well. When she's wrong, she just keeps plowing forward with homerun swings that completely whiff. She sometimes seems quietly incredulous that other people have different values and methods of reasoning, or that their perception of themselves does not match her research.

To be fair and not negative exclusively, I think she's very good at knowing how long to let people talk (some of this might be editing), very good at creating a "human connection" with the subjects, and reasonably good at keeping things interesting.

Post reply on HN