Dragon Interview: Dragon Editor on Interviewing Local Politicians

Published on: 8 Mar, 2023
Updated on: 13 Mar, 2023

Dragon editor Martin Giles

By Hugh Coakley

We have had recent examples of our local politicians and others being unwilling to allow themselves to be interviewed by The Dragon.

I asked the editor, Martin Giles, for his views on why it was important for the leaders, those who make decisions on our behalf, to be questioned by local journalists and how he goes about it.

He never plans to spring any surprises, he said, during interview, advising the interviewee in advance on the subject areas the interview will cover to allow them to prepare their thoughts in advance. “We aren’t trying to trip them up.”

He said it wasn’t the ordinary councillor, who might be more likely to be inexperienced or nervous, who are sought for interviews. It is generally the Executive members, those in decision-making positions, The Dragon wanted to hear from. And it was important, he said, for our readers to hear them explain the rationale behind their decisions and helpful to see the person responding to questions which could be more revealing than a written response.

After our interview, Giles added that it was normal practice to offer to rerun questions if either party made a mistake or misspoke.

“Anyone can make a mistake,” he said.

See the full interview here…

Responses to Dragon Interview: Dragon Editor on Interviewing Local Politicians

Jeremy Holt Reply

March 9, 2023 at 1:02 pm

An interesting article but I am at a loss to understand the sentence below (two paragraphs above the video “see the full interview here”).

“After our interview, Giles added that it was normal practice to offer (in error ‘offer” was shown as “other”) originally said to rerun questions if either party made a mistake or misspoke.”

Editor’s response: It was intended to mean that there is more in the video interview than summarised in print and most videos are unedited other than trimming the ends. However, point taken and in future we will say: “See video interview here…”