Combative

Combative interviewing is when the interview becomes a debate or slight argument as two or more opinions are often shared and voiced and not just one answer from one individual. These types of interviews can be humorous for the audience to watch as people can enjoy seeing a type of conflict that shows a very strong but slightly ridiculous view on life or a particular situation. It can be something simple like the views on a relationship or on a strong religious view as the two examples show, both are relatively entertaining to watch as the subject it is on are outrageous in its own way. The body language of the person or people being interviewed are slightly awkward or annoyed as the situation is quite intense as the interviewing is more on the spot and improvised with a few set up questions which the interviewer intends to ask, it is clear that the interviewer is improvising more as the answers of the interviewee are unpredictable. The combative interview can be on a serious subject but still humorous to the audience.

            The questions can be open or closed similar to the hard news, if the person being interviewed doesn’t answer an open question exactly and try’s to talk around it, the question will become more direct and closed. They will be asked quickly as combative interviews are often filled with people talking over each other, so multiple questions will be asked. A structured interview would not be like this, there is much improve relating to the questions being asked because the questions may have been the first time being asked or often have a dramatic answer.

            There is not a strong structure to this style of interview as the situation often becomes irate and out of hand. The introduction often quickly show the opinions of both sides before developing into a debate, it becomes clear at who is on what side of the situation, this makes it extremely unbiased. The interviewer may intend to play with the person they are interviewing by being sarcastic because the situation may be a bit of a joke, such as the Jeremy Kyle show you are able to hear the audience laugh at the issue and Kyle making a joke of it also.

            The purpose of this style of interview is to entertain the audience and also to educate as at times it can be helpful and relate to the public it is also educational to show the different, strong views of different people in different situations.